Nuclear Paradise
by A Scary Man
Summary: (COMPLETE) - The Brotherhood believe their victory has ensured the safety of the world's mutants, but when a new threat arises they must choose between fighting alongside their mortal enemies the X-Men, or facing the end of the world.
1. Prologue

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NUCLEAR PARADISE

Prologue:

Annie Rosiçky woke, confused and disoriented in complete darkness. Her mind was in turmoil, as if a black fog was smothering her brain, and for a moment she didn't know who she was, where she was, or what had happened to her. She struggled to collect her thoughts, and slowly, piece by piece, things began to seep back into her memory. The Brotherhood…the vaccine…the duel with her brother Gladiator…the pain…she remembered the pain. Gladiator's anger had amplified his power to a truly terrifying level. Annie had tried to stand against him, to protect the human race, to help Gary push aside his misunderstandings, to bring him back to the light – she had failed. 

Jolts of agonising pain shot through her body as she tried to rise into a sitting position. She cried out and curled up weakly on the ground. Annie was no doctor, but she guessed at least half of the bones in her body were broken. Drawing her body in towards herself, she closed her eyes and put her hands over her face, hiding herself from the world, as if she could make it all go away. Part of her just wanted to lie there in her pain and sadness, feeling sorry for herself, wishing things would change. Part of her refused to give up, and urged her to do something, to use her powers to try and stop Gladiator a second time.

But Annie's defeat had been a crushing one. It had destroyed not only most of her body, but her spirit and her confidence as well. Her previous assurance was gone, along with her naïve assumptions that she would emerge victorious because she was fighting on the side of right. She had made too many assumptions…she had expected that she could change Gladiator's mind simply by talking to him…she had expected him to be exactly the same person she had known before he had joined the Brotherhood. She hadn't counted on him changing in the way that he had, changing into what Pyro wanted him to be. 

The pain was still intense, and Annie knew she had to do something about it. Though in a bizarre way, she was reluctant to use her powers. Using them reminded her of the fight with Gladiator, the fight she had lost, and reminded her of the fact that she had failed the human race she had sworn to protect. The older X-Men had put their faith in Annie to stop Gladiator, and she had failed them. She had failed them, failed the humans, failed her parents, and failed herself. Annie felt as if she was the lowest creature on the Earth. She had let down everybody who had been relying on her, whose very lives had been depending on her success. Tears crept in at the edge of her mutated eyes, and she wanted to do nothing more than lie there and cry herself empty.

Some part of her took control, and forced her to get a grip of things. Annie stopped feeling sorry for herself, and started to think logically. She had to try again. She had failed, but that didn't mean she should give up. She had to try a second time, to fulfil the promises she had made. It was her duty as one who was strong to protect those who were weak. She had to defeat the Brotherhood and show Gladiator the error of his ways. She had to save the human race from the sickness the Brotherhood had infected them with. There was only one way to do it. There was only a tiny sample left of the cure her parents had developed, and Annie was the only person who knew where it was hidden. Somehow she had to set herself free and get hold of the cure before it was too late. Gladiator had beaten her once. A second defeat was inconceivable, since it would mean the end of humanity. She was the only one who could do anything to stop the chain of events Pyro had set in motion.

The first thing to do was mend the injuries her body had sustained. Annie took a deep breath, closed her eyes and concentrated her mind hard on using her healing power. Her body was so badly damaged that it wasn't easy, but eventually she felt the cool, soothing sensation spreading outwards from her heart. Her broken bones re-set themselves, her wounds closed, her pain lessened then disappeared, and she felt her weakened body becoming strong again. 

__

Thank you God, for the gift of my power, she prayed.

Annie stood, still disoriented in the blackness, and experimentally put out a hand to either side. On her left she touched a wall, and leaning to her right she felt another. Reaching above her head, her hand touched a low ceiling, and by feeling around she located the other two walls that made up her small surroundings. Where was she? Some kind of prison cell? She had to find out where she was, and from there where she might find Gladiator. Maybe he was near here. Annie closed her eyes again, focused her mind, and pushed out with her telepathic power, trying to locate her brother.

Strange. She couldn't feel anything. Her telepathy wasn't working. It wasn't that she simply couldn't sense anybody – she just couldn't feel her power working at all. She tried again, pushing outwards with her mind, trying to locate Gladiator or one of the other Brotherhood members. Fear began to pulse in her brain as her telepathy failed once more. Annie started to panic. What was wrong with her telepathy? Had the Brotherhood done something to her? Had they 'normalised' her in some way, taken away her powers? No. Of course not. Her healing still worked. But why couldn't she sense anybody with her mind? Annie felt both blind and deaf without her telepathy; it was like a normal person suddenly losing both their sight and hearing in the same moment. It was terrifying, disorienting, and it destroyed the small amount of confidence she had been able to build up. Annie sank to her knees, her hands covering her face, sobbing in despair.

It was a beautiful summer's day, but for the two US army privates on guard at the underground military bunker less than twenty miles from New York City, it was a tense and anxious time. With the increasing fear of attacks by the mutant terrorists, there was a general loss of confidence spreading throughout the army. The US military prided itself on being the best trained, best equipped and most powerful fighting force in the world. They were not used to coming up against enemies they couldn't easily defeat, and the mutant terrorists had proved time and again to be virtually invincible. Despite there only being nine or ten of them, most of whom weren't even full-grown adults, the terrorists could strike as quickly and devastatingly as lightning, disappearing just as fast afterwards. Security on all military installations had been doubled and then trebled to protect the army's equipment from being sabotaged. This was a war, and one the US military were determined to win. The two privates at this bunker were recent recruits, young men who were determined to defend their country against mutant terrorism.

"Have you heard about Rodriguez?" the first asked.

The second looked over, "I heard he got transferred."

"Yeah, that's the bullshit story they fed us. I met an old buddy of his last night – truth is he got the Plague."

"You're kidding."

"No. They say you can get it just by being in the same room as somebody already infected."

"Holy shit."

"Yeah. Rodriguez caught it, only we're not supposed to know. Bad for morale. Don't let on I told you."

"Sure thing. Isn't there a cure for the Plague? I thought they were developing one."

"I heard that too, but it was just a rumour. There's nothing. They say the sickness was started by the terrorists. Seems they ain't content just to kill our army – they gotta go after our wives and kids too."

"Bastards," the other spat.

Before the first man could reply, both of them heard the sudden sound of gunfire. Jolted into action, they reacted with instinctive synchrony, slapping off the safety catches on their weapons, moving closer together into a defensive position where they could cover each other. Another burst of gunfire came, then another, then silence. Both men were tensed and ready to react in an instant, their eyes and ears straining to pick up the slightest sight or sound that might warn of imminent danger.

"Sounds as if it's coming from the east side."

"Yeah. Could it have been an accident? A gun left with its safety off?"

"Three rounds? Nah. We've got trouble. I can feel it."

Grabbing his communicator, the private spoke rapidly, "This is Wilson; I hear gunfire; requesting sit-rep."

He waited for a response, but none came. He tried to again, "I repeat, requesting sit-rep!"

There was no answer, but from around the corner of the building both could hear the sound of a loud _thud_, then a man's scream abruptly cut off. Both privates knew without doubt that there had been no accident. Whatever was happening, it was very real. To panic was natural, but both of them pushed their fears aside, letting their training take over. They had a decision to make. To leave their post would be to disobey orders, but the scream had obviously been that of a man in pain, and neither was willing to stay put when one of their compatriots might be wounded or dying. Slowly, carefully, they began to inch their way around the side of the building, ready to face whatever threat might present itself. As they got closer they could hear ragged breathing, and a man's terrified voice gasping, "What – what the hell _are_ you?"

Neither of the privates was ready for the scene that greeted them as they turned the corner. Three men in US army uniforms lay dead on the ground, their necks twisted at grotesque angles. A fourth soldier, held by the throat, was being hoisted aloft by a giant, the tallest man either of them had ever seen. Beside the giant stood a gaunt figure, his body hidden in the folds of a cloak as black as night. Only his face and his hands showed, and those were chalk white. Further back could be seen a man who looked like a skeleton. The giant was slowly but surely tightening his grip on the throat of the trembling soldier, and the man began to choke as his windpipe constricted. Both privates raised their weapons.

"Put him down!!"

The giant and the gaunt, ghost-like figure looked over. The ghost's eyes were a terrifyingly bright blue, almost as if they were twin shards of ice

"Let him go or we'll shoot!"

The ghost gave what looked like a sneer, "Pathetic mortals…"

The giant closed his fist around the soldier's neck, and the man's last struggles ended as his body fell limp; his corpse was then dropped contemptuously to the ground.

"Drop them!"

Both men aimed at the black-cloaked figure and fired. Bullets thudded into the ghost's head, chest and neck, and both privates knew the satisfaction of revenge. They had already adjusted their aim to fire at the giant, when they realised something. The ghost was still standing, still facing them, and didn't appear to be wounded in the slightest. Before either of them could react, a falling shape overhead distracted them, and a figure dropped from the roof of the building on to their heads. A hissing sound was followed by the tearing noise of claws slicing into flesh, as the first private's neck was cut open, his blood spilling on to the ground. The other private screamed, a mixture of anger, fear and vengeance, and ploughed straight towards the ghost, determined to avenge his friend's death. He fired as he ran, emptying his weapon's magazine into the ghost's upper body. A _click_ told him he was out of ammo, and he flung the gun aside, reaching for the combat knife at his hip. The ghost made no attempts to move out of his way, and the private drove the knife straight into his enemy's throat.

The ghost gave him another contemptuous sneer and pulled the knife free, dropping it to the ground. The private's eyes had already widened with horror, and he was reaching for a grenade when the ghost struck. A pale, deathly hand shot out to grip the private by the neck. The ghost's skin was as cold as ice, and the private struggled in his grasp, fighting desperately to free himself. 

"I condemn you…" the ghost hissed.

No sooner had he sat down in the comfortable leather chair behind his expensive mahogany desk, than he was interrupted by the door being thrown open and his attractive young secretary hurrying into the room.

"Dr Van Gaarde!" she exclaimed.

"What is it?" he said impatiently. "Can't you see I'm trying to work?"

"It's the Horsemen, sir!"

"Yes, have them taken down to the lab, I want to run some tests."

"I can't, sir! That's what I came to tell you! The Horsemen have gone rogue!"

The geneticist's eyes, which had been lingering on her chest, moved up to her face, "What?!"

"We've lost control of them, sir! We're getting no response from their implant modules!"

Elias Van Gaarde closed his eyes briefly, "Let us hope to God that you are wrong. I don't have to tell you how disastrous this could be. If the rest of the world finds out what we've been doing…"

"I'm more worried about the Horsemen, sir! Out of control they might – "

"Yes, I know. Go down to the lab and check again. No, wait – _I'll_ go down to the lab. You can go home, Miss Drake."

"Home, sir?"

"Yes, you heard me. Have the rest of the day off. Go on!"

She left the room, and Van Gaarde watched her go, admiring her bottom and her seductively swaying hips, barely covered by her skirt. She really was a beautiful woman, he thought. It would be a pity if he had to have her killed to cover up this mess. If the Horsemen really _had_ gone rogue…

He headed down to the research labs, idly wondering what would happen if the world were to find out exactly what he had been working on these last three years. He didn't want to spend any more time in that high security prison. He had already spent more than fourteen years of his life there, before a government agency had offered him freedom in return for working on a specific project. He had accepted on the spot. Mutant genetics had always fascinated him, though his old research partner Davor Rosiçky had been the real expert. Van Gaarde often laughed at the irony of it. The human government, in their attempts to defend the nation from mutants, had enlisted his aid to breed their own race of super mutants. He had to admit, he had got more than a little carried away in the excitement at times. He had even named them himself. It had seemed fitting in a way, to name them after the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, his own personal armageddon against the mutants of America. Van Gaarde gave a shark-like smile. After all, it was those same mutants who were the reason he had ended up in that high security prison in the first place. Now it was time for revenge.

Elaine Drake arrived home approximately half an hour after leaving work. She was glad to be home early, not because she had any plans, but simply so she didn't have to spend any more time near the lecherous Dr Van Gaarde. She loathed the man intensely; it was only the extraordinarily high wage that enabled her to endure his company, his filthy chauvinist eyes openly and unashamedly roaming over her body. Elaine slammed the car door angrily as she thought about it, opening her handbag for her house keys. It made her so angry. A first class biology degree from one of the best universities in the country, and she ended up the secretary of some ancient, sexist lunatic. A man in her position would have been made a senior researcher by now; she had no doubt of that. Entering the house, slamming that door too, she headed upstairs for a shower. In her bedroom she undressed, angrily throwing down the tiny black skirt that Van Gaarde always insisted on her wearing to work.

"It's a wonder he doesn't just tell me to show up naked," she muttered to herself.

She couldn't believe that a man could actually dictate to his female employee what she should wear, but the man seemed to have some strange influence over whoever was ultimately in charge of the project. Elaine didn't know exactly who that was, but she suspected it was either the government or a big multinational corporation. Quite what the latter would want with a group of killer mutants she didn't know, so she assumed it was the former. And she had to admit, the money wasn't the only thing that kept her in the job. The work fascinated her. Mutant genetics had been the topic of her university thesis, and a research opportunity in that field had been a dream come true. Not that she especially cared for mutants; they were a source of scientific interest and that was all. She had never thought of them as being living creatures who had thoughts, emotions or relationships – they were just research specimens, like any other kind of lab animal. Whether they lived or died, prospered or suffered, was purely incidental. It wasn't like they were real people.

After having a shower, she dressed in fresh clothes and walked downstairs to get something to eat and watch the news headlines. It was when she reached the bottom of the stairs that she caught the first sight of the figure standing in her living room. Elaine's eyes widened in shock; it wasn't just that the woman was naked, but her skin was entirely blue and she was clearly a mutant.

"What the hell do you want, freak?!" she snapped. "Get out of my house!"

The other woman made no moves to leave, and Elaine angrily wrenched open the cupboard next to her, where her father had always kept his shotgun. Grabbing the gun, she made sure it was loaded and pointed it at the mutant.

"Get out, freak! I'll kill you!"

The blue mutant twisted to kick the gun from Elaine's hands, and the young woman gasped, then began to back away nervously, "All right, don't hurt me. You want money? My purse is upstairs. Let me just – "

She stopped as the other woman's body began to change shape. She couldn't believe what she was seeing as the mutant's body warped and morphed into another female form. Elaine screamed as she found herself looking into her own face. The mutant spun, kicking out at the geneticist, and Elaine Drake was killed, thrown to the floor with her neck broken.

Ten minutes later, the front door opened and the neighbours saw Elaine walking out towards her car, throwing it into gear and speeding off the way she had just come, back towards the research laboratory.

There were twelve of them gathered around the meeting table in the X-mansion. Cyclops was speaking, "OK, before we begin, I'd like to say a few words to our two newest members. Helios, Aqua – we've had to bring both of you into the fray earlier than we would have liked, but in the current situation we don't have any other choice. This is our most desperate hour. I know you won't let us down."

He looked at the two of them, and for a moment he thought, _they're only children. What are we doing, bringing them into this_? Then he pushed his doubts away. He had already considered the problem at length. They were the oldest and strongest of the students, and he felt both of them were ready to take up the challenge. He was confident he wouldn't be proved wrong – but at the same time he knew he'd never forgive himself if either of them got hurt from being thrown in at the deep end too early.

"OK, down to business," he said, taking his mind away from his worries. "The reason I called this meeting was to brief you all on something I only just heard myself."

"About the Brotherhood?" asked Storm.

"No – it's about that other group: the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. We hadn't heard anything about them since we fought them off from the school that time – until now, that is. A few hours ago a group of mutants answering their description launched an attack on a US army bunker."

"Wait a minute," said Shock. "I thought they were working for the government. Why would they attack the military?"

"I don't know. We have to find out. The Brotherhood are still our top priority, but this Apocalypse group could do serious damage if they put their minds to it. We'll have to keep an eye on them."

"What if they join with the Brotherhood?" asked Wolverine. "Two packs of murdering psychopaths – they ought to go together well."

"My son is one of the people you're talking about," Oculus replied icily.

"Yeah, well – no offence, but he's not exactly following in your footsteps, is he?"

"We have to find out more about the Horsemen before we can make any sort of judgement," said Cyclops. "Logan, Felicity, Kurt – I want the three of you to see if you can track them down. Watch them for the time being, and only intervene if you have no other choice. The rest of us will stay here on 'Brotherhood alert'. We still don't know where Pyro's got them based, and with Gladiator on their side it's too risky to attack them directly, but we have to be ready to take advantage of any mistakes they make. It might give us a chance to find Crusader. She's the only one who knows where to find the last surviving sample of the cure."

"What about our source inside the Brotherhood?" Gaia asked.

"We've heard nothing from them since the last battle."

"We still don't know who it is?"

"No. All their communications are anonymous. It could be any one of them. Except Pyro, I guess. OK – let's move. You three report back to us on a regular basis to let us know what you find."

"Got it," said Wolverine.

The meeting dispersed, and the two youngest X-Men walked towards the elevator together.

"I – I can't believe this is actually happening. I can't believe that – that they…"

The girl's voice trailed off and she looked nervously at the ground. 

"I know what you mean," the boy said.

"You're only – only sixteen, and I – I'm only fourteen."

"Yeah. They only did this because of losing Annie, you do realise?"

Marina nodded, "I – I guess."

"They'd never have made us full X-Men at this age if they hadn't lost her," said Dominic. "As much as I'd like to think otherwise, I can't delude myself."

She looked at him sadly, then dropped her gaze, "Do you – do you think there's no hope? Do you think we can – we can save the humans?"

"We have to. We have to do everything we can."

"But – but do you think – "

"I don't know!"

Marina flinched, stung by the harshness in his voice, and looked at the floor unhappily. She didn't like being shouted at. It took a lot of confidence for her to speak at all, and it didn't take a lot to erode her confidence. Marina had been traumatised, scarred perhaps for life, by the death of her entire family, who had drowned before her eyes shortly after her fourteenth birthday. She had only survived the ordeal because her mutation enabled her to breathe underwater, and ever since that day she had been living a nightmare, haunted every second by those horrific images, terrified by the prospect of seeing them every day for the rest of her life. There were times when she would wake in the morning and for just a moment she would think that those terrible memories had only been a dream, and that she'd woken up to reality and everything would be all right. Within seconds her heart would be broken anew as she remembered that her nightmare _was _real.

Then she had met Gary. On the surface, they were the last two people on Earth who should have fallen in love. Marina: small, scared, neurotic, depressive – and Gary: powerful, angry, impatient, volatile. She should have been terrified of him from the minute go. He should have lost patience with her weakness and her mental problems, and wanted nothing to do with her. It hadn't happened like that. Gary had seen only a girl to love and protect; Marina had seen only a person who was deeply troubled like she was, somebody she could relate to and be comfortable with. They had met, they had loved, they had kissed – they had been separated. During a surprise attack launched by humans, Marina had been shot, and Gary, convinced she was dead, had give into his overpowering fury and declared himself an enemy of humanity. He had joined the Brotherhood. Marina had been healed by Annie, Gary's sister, and she had waited, hoping and praying that they might someday meet again. Sometimes she would build up the confidence to speak to one of the X-Men and ask if they had any news of him, but there was no indication of him coming back soon.

Marina's mental problems made it difficult for her to remember dates and times – life was just one ongoing saga of misery – and she tended to memorise things in terms of important events that had happened. Meeting Gary, for example. Losing Annie. It had been only two days ago that the X-Men had left, confident that Annie could bring Gary back out of his rage-fuelled vendetta, and Marina had built up her hopes that she would be seeing him again soon. Then the X-Men had returned, without Annie and without Gary. While Marina might have expected to be devastated, she was in fact quite the opposite. She was often a contrary person. Losing Annie, the person who had been using her psychic powers to help probe Marina's mind and gently try to heal her trauma, should have sent her over the edge. It hadn't. In a way it had made her stronger. When the X-Men had announced that they wanted to recruit more members, she hadn't hesitated in volunteering.

Now, at the age of fourteen, she was one of them, their youngest ever member. She had asked them to call her Aqua, and she was ready to face whatever trial or mission they might ask her to take part in. She believed in the preservation of human life, as all of them did, but her main goal was to see Gary again, to show him that she was alive, and to beg him to return to her. She knew she couldn't live without him. It was only hope of seeing him again that kept her going. Without him, her life was empty, and not worth living. He had to come back to her. They had thought that Annie was the one to achieve that, but Gary had fought Annie and beaten her. Marina knew she was the one person Gary would never hurt. She knew she was the only one who could bring him back.

A/N: Unfortunately I'm very very busy right now, so I'm putting this chapter up as a sort of 'taster'. The next chapter should be up 'reasonably' soon, i.e. some time before Christmas. Please leave a review to encourage me to go faster!


	2. Our New World

Chapter One

If the future was as bright as the sun that greeted me that morning, then our prospects were very favourable indeed. Getting out of bed, I threw open the window and breathed in deeply, enjoying the smell of the fresh sea air, letting the sun's rays wash over my face. The world was such a beautiful place sometimes, especially on days like this. They made me feel happy to be alive. They made me feel that despite all the troubles and tribulations of the world, there was hope for a future where days were just as bright and full of joy and life as this sunny morning. At times like this I could even stop thinking about Marina. But not for long. Her death was what drove me to carry on my fight. The life she had never had was what made me grateful for the life I still had, and the lives I had saved, those of all the mutants around the world. This world belonged to us now. Something so beautiful did not deserve to be tainted by the presence of humans, and soon our dream of a world without the sub-creatures would become a reality. I had made sure of that. I was the Gladiator, and this was my world now.

All of the mutant children, who were tortured and tormented daily by their human oppressors, could now look forward to leading a proper life. They could be cared for by adult mutants and grow up together without fear of bigotry or hatred. They could learn how to control their powers, and use them without fear of exposing themselves as mutants. In time they could come together and have their own children, and the cycle would begin again. The world would be a place of peace and happiness; no war, no famine, no poverty, no hatred, none of the terrible sicknesses the humans had created and which they still nurtured daily. The humans had had their time, and had done nothing but destroy God's Earth, and kill both themselves and us. Their time was now over. It was now our time.

We had done all this, not for ourselves, but for our species, for our young and for their future. There had been those who had tried to stop us – and there would always be those who tried to stop a change for the better – but we had proved ourselves stronger than the X-Men, and our victory was complete. There was nothing they could do to save the sub-creatures now. And when the last human drew his last breath, and the sun dawned on our bright and beautiful new age, the X-Men would have to admit that we had been right. My feelings towards them were mixed. I didn't hate them. At the same time, however, I would never forgive them for lying about the death of my beloved Marina. They had thought to take advantage of my feelings for her, to try and coax me back over to their side. A few weeks ago I might have believed them. Now I was a different Gladiator, one taught by Pyro to see through their lies and realise what it was they really wanted. Where there was terrible grief, they saw only a political opportunity. How could they possibly be so callous, to lie about Marina's death, just to try and get me to change my allegiance? Obviously none of them knew what it was like to lose a loved one. Added to that the fact that they simply didn't take me seriously. I _was_ only fourteen, but I saw myself as someone who was as much of an adult as any of them. I hated being treated like a child. Pyro was the only adult who had ever done otherwise, who had given me a free rein to use my powers as I saw necessary.

"Hey," came a soft voice from behind me.

I turned, and smiled. Just out of bed, Cassandra brushed her hair from in front of her eyes, and slipped her hands behind my neck, pulling me gently towards her. Our lips met in a soft kiss, and as we parted she smiled and rested against me, whispering, "I love you…"

"I love you."

Cassandra was the main reason I had to look forward to my own future. The two of us had sworn our love to each other, and we had agreed to be married. I knew it was not a decision either of us would ever regret. I knew we were made for each other. I knew nobody had ever understood me the way Cassandra did. Well, except one. But I was trying to forget about Marina. As much as I loved her, as much as I knew I mustn't ever forget her, I knew I had to let go of the past and live for the future. Once the humans were gone, Cassandra and I could live together and start the family we both wanted to have.

She let go of me and said, "I'm going to go have my shower. Meet you in the kitchen for breakfast?"

"OK."

She grabbed some clothes from her side of the wardrobe, and she was heading for the door when it happened. Cassandra gasped, her hands going to her stomach, her face screwing up with pain as she doubled over. I hurried to her side, supporting her, "Are you all right?"

She steadied herself, and took a deep breath, the tension in her body slowly lessening until she relaxed, "I'm – I'm all right."

I looked at her with concern, "What's the matter? You looked as if you were going to be sick."

"It's – it's nothing. I just don't feel well in the mornings sometimes. I think it must have been something I ate."

"You sure?"

Cassandra smiled, "Yeah. Don't worry about it. See you in a bit."

She pecked me on the cheek and left the room, heading for the showers. I watched her go, a twinge of worry still nagging at my mind. What was wrong with her? Was she sick? I shrugged and told myself not to worry about it. It would probably pass. It wasn't as if she could have picked up any illnesses; we hadn't been off the island to get infected by anyone. And even if she _was_ ill, I could always force Crusader to heal her.

That got me thinking about the young woman who was the greatest of the X-Men. She was far and away their strongest fighter, and as her name might suggest, she was their crusader for their crazy beliefs. She was my only rival in terms of power. She was the single greatest threat to mutant survival on Earth, and our most dangerous enemy. She was also my sister. Two years older, and blessed as I was with four of the eight gifts we had inherited from our father, she had thought herself my superior and put herself between me and the salvation of my species. We had come together in one last climactic duel, as we had been destined to, and I had won, not only the fight but the whole battle. Without her the X-Men were crushed, and the humans were doomed.

Now she was our prisoner. Almost subconsciously I found myself walking out of the bedroom I shared with Cassandra, down the corridor, past the shower room where I could hear the water running, around the corner, past the computer room where I heard somebody tapping at a keyboard, and then I was standing in front of the room in which she was imprisoned. I ran my hand lightly over the grey metallic surface of the door, marvelling at the properties of the material of which it was constructed. I knew the whole room was shielded by this metal, and it was the only thing that protected us from Crusader's telepathic powers. It was the same material Magneto's helmet had been made from, and he had built this room years ago, as a place to go where he could be safe from Xavier's mind projections. Now it was being put to a different use. There was no way in or out; Pyro had made sure of _that_. At first I had been worried that Crusader might starve to death, but I knew she could use her healing power to sustain herself for a few days. We only needed to keep her in there until the humans were dead. After that Pyro had promised she would be set free

I walked away from the cell, and headed back towards the kitchen where I had promised to meet Cassandra. She would be done in the shower before long. I could hear voices from the adjoining living room as I entered the kitchen.

"…and she won't even _look_ at me," Mole was complaining.

Scarab said, "I know how you feel, man. I'm crazy about her too, but she doesn't want to know."

"Yeah. She – "

Both of them stopped when they realised I was there.

"Hey guys," I said. "Who are you talking about?"

"Nobody," said Mole quickly.

Scarab blinked ingenuously, "Gemini. Aren't you crazy about her too, Gladiator?"

"Nah. He's got Cassandra," said Mole. "Some guys have all the luck. I bet Gemini even fancies him too."

I shook my head, "She doesn't. Gemini and I – well, it's hard to explain – we have a sort of understanding. We're friends – nothing more."

Mole shrugged, and I went into the kitchen area to find something to eat. Through the window I could see the beautiful summer morning from the other side of the island, the sun reflecting fluidly off the surface of the water. The sky above was blue, without a cloud in sight. Atlas was outside, kneeling before one of the flower beds next to the sanctuary. He loved working with the soil; nothing gave him greater pleasure, and his power over earth granted him a unique gift with plants and flowers. Beyond his flower beds lay a large grassy expanse, and there I saw two more of my friends: Vertigo and Acceleratus. Our martial arts expert was spending time teaching self defence to the little seven year old, and I could see them exchanging blows now, the child using her sublime speed to counter Vertigo's natural agility. She was the newest addition to the Brotherhood, and was a keen learner. She had suffered at the hands of humans, as all of us had, and all she wanted was to make sure that they couldn't hurt her any more. We had promised her that.

I turned at the sound of footsteps at the doorway. Cassandra was there, showered and dressed in a T-shirt and short skirt, her light brown hair brushed neatly and hanging down to just above her shoulders, and she smiled at me. Behind her came Recyclo: grey-haired, grey-eyed, and as cold and emotionless as ever. He looked at me and said, "Is Pyro around?"

"Haven't seen him."

He raised an eyebrow slightly. That was about as close as Recyclo ever got to showing his feelings. Whether it was because of this, or for some other reason, I never felt entirely comfortable when he was around. He scared Cassandra, he terrified little Acceleratus, and I often wondered what it was that made him the way he was. Pyro had hinted at Recyclo having a troubled past, but neither of them had ever revealed to the rest of us what it might be. I knew he had a twin brother – Helios, one of the X-Men – and as far as I knew they had never known each other until they had first met only days ago. They had clearly been separated as babies – I suspected that something must have happened to Recyclo to make him mask his feelings in this way. His appearance was a little unnerving too; no sixteen year old should have grey hair, and those grey eyes emanated cold neutrality, with no hint of a soul or a person living inside. 

Inwardly I shrugged. So he was a little weird. So what? So were all mutants. I couldn't hate somebody just because I thought he was strange. That would make me as bad as the humans. Recyclo's past and his feelings were his own business, not mine. Until he chose to share them with me, they were none of my concern. I valued my privacy, so I knew I had to respect his. He was looking out of the window, probably trying to see if he could spot Pyro outside, then he spoke to me once more, "I've discovered something you might find interesting. I was going to tell Pyro, but I can't seem to find him."

"What have you found out?" I asked.

"It's about those mutants. The ones you called the Horsemen."

I narrowed my eyes. The Horsemen were psychotic murderers who had tried to kill mutant children. They would have succeeded if I hadn't got in their way.

"What about them?"

"I'll show you. Bring Pyro and the rest."

He left the room, and I exchanged glances with Cassandra.

"I'll find Pyro," she said.

Scarab and Mole had overheard, and they too were moving towards the door, looking as intrigued as I felt. If Recyclo had found out something about the Horsemen, it was definitely worth following up. We didn't know exactly who they were, or what it was they wanted, but if they were going to try and kill mutant kids then we had to stop them. I pushed open the door that led outside, and called to Atlas, "Hey. Come inside for a minute. Recyclo's found out something."

"Give me a moment; I'm almost done here."

I nodded and walked past him towards the grassy field, where Vertigo and Acceleratus were still locked in mock battle. As I watched, the little girl tried to block his attack, but he caught her a glancing blow on the side of the head, and she was thrown to the ground. When she arose, holding her head and crying in pain, he knelt by her, "I'm sorry, honey, I'm sorry. I should have been more gentle."

Acceleratus shook her head, "I'm OK."

Brushing away her tears, she clenched her tiny fists, ignoring the pain, ready to start fighting once more. I smiled. Her spirit was indomitable, and I could tell she was determined to learn everything he taught her as quickly as she could, so she could protect herself from those who might want to harm her.

"No, I think we've done enough this morning," said Vertigo. "We'll do some more of this later."

She sighed, but brightened when she saw me approaching, "Hi, Gladiator!"

"Hi, Accel. Are you OK?"

"Yeah," she said, then giggled. "Vertigo's tired, he's going inside. Will you teach me how to fight now?"

"No, we have to go inside. Recyclo wants to show us something."

"I don't like Recyclo. He's scary."

"I'll keep you safe," I said, then turned to Vertigo. "You haven't seen Gemini, have you?"

He shook his head, but Acceleratus replied, "She's down on the beach."

"OK. See you guys inside."

Ahead of me was the path that led up to the highest point on the island, where a telescope had been set up. On the right was another path, this one leading down a steep gradient to the sandy shore that lay at the bottom of the cliffs. I moved over that way and headed down to the beach. As I stepped out on to the sand, I watched the blue ripples of the sea running up the shore towards me, then pulling back with the tide, almost as if they were enticing me into the water. It was tempting, but inside of me it felt wrong. Thinking of water made me think of Marina, and I was trying not to think of her, especially now that the fight was over, the humans would soon be no more, and no mutant would ever have to die as she had.

"Hey! Gladiator!"

I looked up in surprise. There was somebody already in the water, a short distance from the shore, her arm above her head, waving to me. It was Gemini. I walked closer to the water and she swam towards me, stopping a few yards away from the sandy edge, treading water to stay afloat, keeping only her head and shoulders above the surface.

"Hey," I said to her. "How's the water?"

"Beautiful and warm. Why don't you come in too?"

"I – uh – no thanks. I didn't know you had a swimming costume."

She giggled, "I don't."

My eyes widened slightly, and I realised for the first time that her shoulders were completely bare.

"Ah," I said in comprehension. "D'you want me to go? I mean, I guess you want some privacy…"

She shrugged, "I don't mind. In fact, could you keep an eye on my clothes for me? I don't want Scarab or Mole coming along and making off with them. They'd do _any_thing to see me naked."

"OK. Sure."

She indicated a rock slightly further along the beach, where I found her towel neatly folded beside her light blue summer dress. I sat down on the rock and she ducked beneath the surface of the water; I could vaguely make out the shape of her swimming parallel to the shore, drawing alongside me. Her head broke the surface again, and she shook the water from her face, opening her eyes and smiling brightly at me. I asked her, "So are you in the habit of, um, what's the word…?"

"Skinny dipping?"

"That's the one."

She gave another shrug, "I guess it's not a good idea on an island full of teenage guys, huh? But I love being in the water. It gives me this wonderful feeling of freedom – you know how important freedom is to me – it's as if the restraints and shackles of ordinary life are taken away as soon as I step into the water. For me it's like – it's like being in a dream, floating on a cloud…I'm probably not making any sense here, am I? Still…you know what I mean."

I smiled, "Yeah. I hate to drag you away if you're enjoying yourself, but we've got to go inside. Recyclo's found out something about those Apocalypse mutants. It could be important."

She frowned slightly, "Oh – OK. I'll come out of the water, then. Could you turn around?"

"Eh? Oh…right."

I turned to face the rock wall that climbed several hundred feet to the overhanging cliff tops above. This part of the beach had to be invisible from up there – in fact, it probably couldn't be seen at all unless you were actually standing on it. No real surprise that Gemini came here when she wanted to swim and had nothing to wear. I could hear the sound of splashing as she climbed out of the water, and a few moments later her voice came from over my shoulder, "Towel, please."

I held it out behind me and she took it.

"Gladiator?"

"Yeah?"

"That girl you knew…the one who died…"

"Marina?"

"Yeah. Look, I – I know you don't like talking about her, but I feel I have to ask – were you in love with her?"

"Yes, I was."

"Does Cassie know?"

"I've never told her. I expect she's worked it out."

"Doesn't she mind?"

I shrugged, "She's never said anything about it, so…I dunno really."

"It just seems a bit like – well, like you're only with Cassie because your other friend died."

"Maybe it seems like that, but I fell in love with Cassandra before Marina died. You might not believe me, but that's the truth."

"Hey, I believe you," she said. "My dress?"

I handed it to her.

"Thanks. OK, you can look now."

I turned back to face her. Gemini was towelling her long brown hair, the light blue dress clinging tightly to her small figure. Stunningly gorgeous as she was, I looked at her without lust or desire, and she knew this, making no efforts to cover herself from further scrutiny. Carrying the towel under her arm, we began to walk along the beach together, back towards the path, her bare feet sinking slightly into the loose sand.

"It still seems a bit unbelievable though, doesn't it?" she asked.

"What does?"

"The fact that we've actually won. The fight between the two sides has been going on for years, longer than we've been alive. It's just a bit incredible to think that we're the ones who have finally achieved this victory for the Brotherhood. I feel…I don't really know what I feel…"

"Proud?"  
"Well, I guess. But sad in a way too. This victory was everything Magneto fought for – and he never lived to see it."

"You knew him, didn't you? What was he like? Do you miss him?"

"I only knew him a little bit. He died when I was like, ten. It was then that Pyro took over and started recruiting new members. Recyclo was the first, then Vertigo and the others. Mystique disappeared round about that point too. What I'm trying to say is, there was so much happening, so many things in my head, that I never really had a chance to be sad over Magneto's death. By the time things settled down again, my life had changed so much that I couldn't even remember what I'd felt at the time."

I said nothing, merely nodding. We had reached the path now and were climbing back up towards the sanctuary. As the building came into sight, Gemini said, "That reminds me. I've been meaning to ask this you for a while. That X-Man we captured – she's your sister, isn't she? What the story between the two of you?"

I sighed, "She's been brainwashed and deluded into believing Xavier's nonsense. All of my family have. They had her lying in wait for me when we went to destroy their Plague vaccine. She tried to talk me out of it, told me a pack of lies about my friend Marina being alive, but in the end words were never going to solve anything. They never do. We fought, and I won."

We were now approaching the sanctuary's main entrance, where we saw Pyro and Cassandra. He beckoned us over, and we ran up the rest of the path towards the sanctuary. As we got closer, we slowed to a walk and I could see Gemini's eyes gazing at Pyro adoringly. I knew she loved him, like a daughter might love her father, and Pyro effectively _was_ her father, having adopted her. He had saved her from an existence of torture as a research specimen in a human laboratory, and she had sworn her undying love and loyalty to him. I knew she would follow him to the ends of the Earth if needs be, and would certainly be willing to give her life for him. I didn't feel _quite_ the same way about him as Gemini did – I respected Pyro as a leader and a teacher, but that was all. His past was troubled too – he had lost the girl he loved, just as I had – and like all of us he was reluctant to talk about his history.

Cassandra slipped her hand into mine as the four of us entered the sanctuary together. The rest of them were waiting for us inside the computer room: Vertigo slouched against the wall with his arms folded; Acceleratus standing close to him; Atlas brushing earth from his hands; Recyclo sitting in front of the computer; Scarab and Mole both staring openly at Gemini's bare legs as we approached. She glared at both of them, and moved to stand behind Pyro, concealing herself.

"So what's up?" Pyro asked impatiently.

Recyclo answered, "It's those Apocalypse mutants. They've launched an attack on an army bunker."

"Where?"

"Close to New York City."

"That doesn't make any sense," said Gemini, sounding confused. "Weren't these guys created by the government as super-agents, or something?"

"As far as we know," said Pyro. "Recyclo, when did this happen?"

"Yesterday."

Cassandra asked, "What were they storing in that bunker? Maybe that'll give us some clue as to why they did it."

"I don't know yet," said Recyclo. "I'm still trying to hack into the army's storage records. They're pretty well protected."

"Well, stay on it," said Pyro. "I want to know what these guys are trying to do. They're powerful mutants, and if we don't know what they want, then they're dangerous. Do you have any idea where they are now?"

"None."

"Can we track them down?" asked Mole.

"I don't see how," our leader said. "Unless – wait a minute. I just had an idea. If you remember when we first encountered these Apocalypse mutants, we found out the name of the scientist in charge of the research project: Elias Van Gaarde."

Gemini, standing in front of me, recoiled at the sound of the name and I caught her in my arms, steadying her.

"Are you OK?" I whispered.

She nodded, "Yeah – I…yeah. It's just – that's the name of the scientist who – who – "

She didn't finish, but I knew what it was that had upset her. As a child Gemini had been hated by her mother, who had given her over to a geneticist for use as a research specimen. She was still haunted by the memories of those days, and within her was still the lingering, if unlikely, fear that she might one day be taken back there.

"We can track down the Horsemen by finding this Van Gaarde first," Pyro was saying,

"And how do we do that?" asked Vertigo.

Gemini took a deep breath, "My mother will know where to find him."

"Your mom? What does she have to do with – ?"

"None of your business," Gemini snapped.

Pyro made the decision, "OK, that's what we'll do. Gemini, find your mother and get her to tell us where we can find Van Gaarde. Gladiator, Vertigo, Recyclo, go with her."

"What are the rest of you gonna do?" I asked.

"We'll stay here. If the Horsemen do something unexpected, something that threatens mutants, we'll have to be ready to face them. You can be sure the X-Men won't lift a finger to defend our own kind."

There were nods of bitter agreement from everyone.

"Leave as soon as you're ready," he said. "Take the helicopter. We'll need the jet here if we're to make a fast response to anything."


	3. On the Trail

Chapter Two

Gemini was uncharacteristically silent for the duration of the helicopter journey down to the state of Florida, where her human family lived. She sat apart from the rest of us, staring out of the window at the ocean below, her thoughts clearly elsewhere. Was she remembering those awful days – weeks, months? – she had spent in that laboratory? Was she thinking about her family, and the humans who had hated her so much that they gave her away to be used as a lab rat? Was she thinking about how she was going to react on meeting them again? I didn't know, and I didn't feel comfortable interrupting her private thoughts, so I left her alone. If she wanted to talk about it, I was sure she would approach me. Unfortunately, given that Vertigo was preoccupied with flying the chopper and Recyclo was being his usual self, there was nobody for me talk to and the trip soon became boring. I could only fly over the sea for so long without becoming sick of it. I forced myself to focus. This mission was important. We had to find this geneticist Van Gaarde, and from there track down the Horsemen. Whatever they were trying to do, we could bet it wasn't going to be beneficial for us, and we had to keep a close eye on them at the very least. Perhaps our fight wasn't over after all. Had we defeated one enemy, only to discover another?

I wondered exactly why Pyro had chosen this particular group for this mission, given that it should prove to be no more than a fact-finding assignment. Gemini was an obvious choice, and Vertigo was the only one other than Pyro who could fly the helicopter, but Recyclo and I were without doubt the two strongest fighters the Brotherhood had – surely it would have been more sensible to keep us on the island as part of the group who were ready to face any attacks from the Horsemen? Surely Cassandra, as Gemini's closest friend, would have been a better choice to go with her, to comfort her while she remembered her terrible past? I shrugged. Pyro knew what he was doing. He was our leader, and he knew how best to utilise our strengths. 

I must have dozed off at some point, or been unaware of the passage of time, as I was suddenly jolted into reality by Vertigo saying, "We're almost there. There's an abandoned industrial estate not far from where we're headed. I'm going to land there. Gem, I'm assuming you can take us directly to your – to where you used to live?"

She nodded, and her voice shook a little, "Yes."

"OK. Touching down now."

We concealed the helicopter as best we could, and set out towards the urban area we could see in the district. It took an hour or so until we reached the outskirts, and Gemini began looking around, presumably getting her bearings, trying to remember which route to take.

"We go this way, I think," she said, pointing along a narrow road on our left.

We passed other people, humans, as we went along, but none of them gave us more than a glance. To them we were clearly just another group of teenagers, three guys and a girl, out enjoying this beautiful summer day. If only they knew who we really were: the instruments of their destruction. I noticed Gemini looking intently at a building on our right, and I turned to see what it was. From the looks of things it had probably once been a town hall or suchlike, but now the words **EMERGENCY PLAGUE CLINIC** were printed above its front entrance. Through the windows I could make out the shapes of humans lying on beds, with other humans – presumably doctors and nurses – moving around, doing what they could for these people. It was useless. Why were they even trying? There was nothing they could do to stop our Plague. The X-Men had tried to save them, and had failed. These humans were doomed.

Somewhere inside of me I felt uncomfortable. I had never previously felt any qualms about our 'cleansing' of the human scum from the world, but then I had never had to see it first-hand like this before. Was it really right, what we were doing? Deep inside, part of me felt that it was wrong to kill these people, people who I had never met and over whom I could not judge whether they deserved to live or die. Was this justified? To save our species, was it right for us to indiscriminately wipe out these people? I wavered for a moment, then remembered what Pyro had said. Effectively it was them or us. If we didn't kill them, they would kill us. It wasn't nice, but it was the only option they gave us. If the humans hadn't been so bigoted about our kind, and had made an effort to accept us, maybe it wouldn't have come to this. It was a war, and the strongest, as they always would, were winning.

We left the clinic behind, and seemed to be moving faster now. Maybe Gemini was remembering the area better and plotting her route with more confidence. As we went on, we passed another group of humans: young girls about our age, wearing short skirts that barely covered anything, talking and laughing happily, giving Vertigo, Recyclo and myself an admiring glance or two as they went past. Once again the feelings of uncertainty rose inside me. These were just ordinary humans – ordinary girls – happily living their lives. They were probably no different from Gemini or Cassandra in many ways. They had done nothing wrong, nothing to deserve death, yet any one of them might be struck down tomorrow with the Plague we had created. I turned round briefly to watch them go, and I tried to force my doubts down. Casualties of war. That's what they were. They died along with those humans who deserved to. They were simply unfortunate enough to be in the way. We walked on, my conscience still troubling me, my thoughts still in turmoil, only vaguely aware of where we were going, concentrating only on following the others. Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted by a voice.

"Hey, what have we here?"

I looked up. Another group of humans, these ones guys slightly older than we were, were standing in front of us, their attention clearly focussed on Gemini. She was still wearing the little blue dress, and had obviously caught their interest. A quick glance around told me we must have wandered into one of the less pleasant areas of town. The guys, six or more, had moved to encircle us, and the one who appeared to be leader said, "Lookin' for some fun, baby?"

"You wish," Gemini snapped. "Get out of my way."

"I don't think so."

He turned his attention to the three of us, "You guys can scram. She's ours now."

"I don't think so," Vertigo said lazily, mocking the guy's accent.

Angrily the sub-creature pulled a switch-blade knife from somewhere on his person, and held it out, pointing towards Vertigo's throat, "Say that again, you little smart-ass! Go on, give me an excuse to slit you open!"

Recyclo moved like lightning, a blade appearing in his hand from nowhere, flicking through the air like a flash of light. The human's mouth opened as he tried to breathe, then his legs gave way and he fell to the ground, his hands clutching at the knife embedded in his windpipe. The other sub-creatures gaped in horror, frozen to the spot, and Recyclo merely looked at them through his unblinking, unfeeling grey eyes. With one accord, they turned and fled. Gemini spat down at the dead human.

"Scum!" she snarled. "They can't look at a girl's body without wanting to make her pregnant!"

"Let's go before we attract any more attention," said Vertigo, his hand in her back, gently guiding her forward.

Recyclo looked down remorselessly at the body of the man he had just killed, then he followed the others. I remained for a second or two, still plagued by my uncertainties. Could I have done that as easily as Recyclo had, just killed the human like that? Had the sub-creature done anything, besides being human, to deserve it? He had made clear his intentions to abuse Gemini, but did that give us the right to just kill him? Suddenly I was feeling less and less comfortable as we went on. It was easy to sit on the island, or anywhere else where there were no humans, and consign them to their doom without feeling guilty. It was another thing entirely to go out amongst them and feel the same. I shook my head. Forget it, Gladiator. You're not an X-Man, so don't start feeling sorry for the human scum. That one was going to die of the Plague soon enough anyway. Recyclo had done nothing except make it quicker and less painful. He had done it to protect Gemini, and that was the single most important thing we fought for: to protect mutant life. These kinds of humans, those who sought only to hurt others, these were the ones we sought to kill. By threatening the lives of others, they forfeited their own right to live. My uncertainties calmed, but not entirely tamed, I walked on.

Gemini definitely knew where she was going now, and as we turned left into a small cul-de-sac, she seemed to be heading for the house at the end of the street: a semi-detached building with a small but well tended garden in front. As we got closer, I could see two figures sitting on a rug in the garden, enjoying the sun. One was a young woman and one was a tiny baby, clearly mother and daughter. The young woman looked up when she heard our footsteps – her face triggered a sensation of recognition deep within my memory, but I couldn't quite place it – and she glanced at us with nothing more than a friendly smile. Then she stopped. Her eyes, centred on Gemini, began to widen and her mouth opened but no sound came out. Eventually she managed to gasp, "_Alexandra_? I thought you were – "

"Dead?" Gemini snapped. "I might as well be for what your mother did to me!"

"My mother? _Our_ mother, you mean. Alex, what _happened_ to you? She told me you died in an accident!"

Vertigo looked sideways at Gemini, "Alex?"

"That's what my human parents named me. I left it behind years ago. This is my sister – Melody."

This time it was my eyes that widened in recognition. I had _thought_ this woman looked familiar. I had met her before, what seemed like long ago but was probably only a month, before I had joined the Brotherhood, before – before Marina had died. The human – Melody – was on her feet, holding her sleeping baby in one arm, her other hand reaching out to caress Gemini's face. Angrily my friend slapped it away, and snapped, "Don't pretend that you love me now! After you spent my entire childhood hating me!"

"Alex – I didn't – I never – "

"Shut up! Where's our mother? I need to speak to her."

"She's dead, Alex."

"Stop _calling_ me that! My name is Gemini! Tell me where our mother is or we'll kill you!"

Melody gasped as a blade appeared literally from nowhere in Recyclo's hand. She held her baby close to her and swallowed nervously, "I told you, Alex – Gemini – she's dead. She died about a month ago in an accident at the harbour."

"Don't expect me to mourn her," Gemini spat.

"Why do you – why do you want to see her if you hate her so much?"

"I need to know how to get hold of the genetics researcher she sold me to."

"_Sold_ you to?" the woman said in shock. "Alex, I never knew! I _swear_ I never knew! I thought you were dead! If I'd known…"

"You hated me because I was a mutant!"

"I never hated you! I – I was just too scared to go against what Mom said! After Dad died, I – I…Alex, I don't hate mutants. A mutant saved my life once."

"Bullshit!"

"No, I'm telling the truth! It was before you were born. I don't know who he was, but he had gold eyes. That's the only thing I remember. That's how I knew he was a mutant."

My breath caught in my throat, but I said nothing. A mutant with gold eyes – that was my sister. No, wait – if it had happened before Gemini had been born, it must have been – it must have been my father. And she had said 'he' anyway. Melody went on nervously, "I – I'm sorry I can't give you what you came for, but you can come inside and look through Mom's old papers if you want. There might be something in there about this geneticist you mentioned. I've been so busy I've never had the chance to go through her stuff."

"All right," said Gemini. "Recyclo?"

He closed his hand, the knife disappearing. Melody breathed a sigh of relief, her body visibly relaxing. Vertigo and Recyclo were already heading towards the house, and Gemini went after them, ignoring her sister's attempts to speak to her further.

"Alex…" Melody pleaded. "Please, listen to me…I never hated you!"

Gemini wasn't listening, and she followed the guys inside the house.

"Do you remember me, Melody?" I asked her.

She turned, a little surprised, and looked at me fearfully, "I – I don't think so. Please, don't hurt me or my baby…"

"We met about a month ago," I said. "I was at the side of the road, looking for a lift, and you pulled over."

"I did?" she said doubtfully. "Now that you mention it – yes, I do remember you…Gary?"

That was the name I had once gone under, but I didn't bother to correct her. 

"You didn't have her with you at the time," I said, pointing to the little baby in her arms.

"No, she was – she was with my husband. He died last week. He had the Plague."

"I'm sorry," I said automatically.

Was I? Was I really sorry? The Plague was our own creation, our method of cleansing humans from the face of the Earth. This woman's husband was dead because of it. It was our fault – my fault. Part of me didn't feel anything – he was only human, and he deserved death just as much as the rest of them. The humans had killed Marina and thus forfeited their right to life. But at the same time, part of me felt blotched with guilt. I had never really thought that the Plague might actually affect the life of somebody I knew, somebody who had gone out of their way to help me…somebody I cared about. This was crazy. How could I be feeling guilty about the death of a human? They were all the same, they were all responsible for Marina's death, not just Marina's death but the deaths of so many other mutants who had been killed simply because they were born different. All humans were the same, and all of them deserved to die. I was about to go and join the others inside the house when I realised the human, Melody, was crying.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

She looked up at me, a single tear rolling down her cheek, "My – my baby."

"What about her?"

"She's got the Plague too."

I looked at the little baby again. It looked perfectly healthy, but presumably its mother knew otherwise. Melody sobbed, "She's infected, and I think I am too. We haven't got long and I – please, I don't know if there's anything you can do, but – I heard a rumour there are some mutants who can heal diseases like this. Please, if you know anybody like that – please take me to them."

She had obviously heard talk of the vaccine that the X-Men had created, that I had destroyed. I looked at the tiny baby again, and once more I felt guilty. This little one was doomed to die because of me, because of what I had done. It _was_ human and they _did_ deserve to die, but still…it was only a baby, so small, so helpless…so innocent. It had never done anything to hurt anyone, and had done nothing to deserve death. True, but couldn't the same be said of Marina? She had been murdered without just cause, so why was this any different? I owed these people nothing. Their lives meant nothing to me. I was about to turn and head for the house, when something made me stop. I couldn't do it. I couldn't just walk away and leave this tiny life to die, knowing that I could have helped her. I had to at least give the baby a chance to survive.

I said to the human mother, "Do you remember that time when you gave me a lift? You took me to the mutant school up in New York."

"Yeah, I remember. Hey, is Alex at that school with you?"

"Um – not exactly. Listen, go there as soon as you can. Ask for a man called Oculus."

"Oculus?"

"Yes. He's the one with the gold eyes who saved your life before. He can heal you and your daughter. Tell him – tell him Gladiator sent you."

She frowned, "I thought your name was Gary."

"Yes, it was. He'll know who I am. And he'll help you. I know he will."

"Won't you come with us?"

I shook my head, "I – I can't. I – just go there, OK? I can't really explain what's going on, but – I can't go to that school any more."

"Why not?"

How could I possibly explain it to her? How could I explain the X-Men/Brotherhood conflict to a human? She wouldn't understand. Most humans probably never imagined that there were divisions amongst mutants. They thought we were all on the same side. I didn't know how to tell her, so I simply replied, "I can't really talk about it. Just trust me. Go there."

"OK, then I'll head out as soon as you guys are done here," said Melody. "Are you sure you can't come with us?"

"Sorry."

She shrugged and gave me a brief smile. I could see that already her mood had changed, her depression and helplessness lifting, a tiny spark of hope flickering inside her heart. I couldn't even begin to imagine how she must have been feeling, knowing that she and her baby were dying, with nothing she could do about it. She must have been sitting here, forlornly preparing herself for whatever she believed came after death, hoping and praying for something, anything, that might take this terrible curse away from her and her child. And here I was, saving the life of a human. Well, not exactly. It was my father who would heal her of the sickness, but I was the one who had made it possible for her. I was still battling with my conscience, part of me insisting it was the right thing to do, part of me thinking I must have gone crazy to want to save the life of those were my enemies. I briefly considered reversing my decision – I could obliterate this woman and her baby with one burst of flame from my lungs – but no. Part of me wanted to do it – part of me suspected that Pyro would have told me to do it – but it didn't feel right. It felt like murder. It would mean killing somebody who had no chance of defending themselves. That was one thing I would never do. Fighting the X-Men, fighting the Horsemen, fighting armed humans was fine – they could fight back – but a defenceless mother and child were not acceptable targets in battle. I turned and headed inside the house.

I found Gemini and the other two in a room at the back, a filing cabinet open in front of them, each sifting through a pile of documents.

"This doesn't appear to be in any particular order," Recyclo was saying.

Gemini sighed, "It isn't. My human mother wasn't the most organised person ever born."

"Right, and you are," Vertigo retorted.

"Shut up. Hey, Gladiator – what took you so long?"

__

Nothing really, just saving the lives of a couple of humans, I thought to myself.

"Nothing," I said. "What are we doing?"

"Looking through these hordes of papers," she groaned. "There's more here than I thought there would be. Here, take these and see what you can find."

She dumped a large pile of documents in my arms, and I looked for somewhere to sit. Vertigo was at the only table; Recyclo was standing rigidly at the side of the room, his pile of papers sitting on the window sill; and Gemini sat on the floor with her bare legs tucked under her, leafing through a thick binder. I sat down beside her and began to read through my own pile.

"I don't think there's anything useful in my heap," said Vertigo. "It's mostly financial stuff: the mortgage for this house, loans, bank statements – it's so thrilling. Oh wait, here's some old school reports. Even more exciting."

"Bet there's nothing of mine in there," Gemini spat. "My mother probably threw out every piece of evidence that I ever existed, as soon as she – as soon as she got rid of me."

"Yeah, incidentally, what happened to you?" he asked. "Outside you mentioned something about being sold…"

"None of your damn business!" she snapped. "I have some very painful memories and we'll leave it at that! You'd only make fun of me if I told you!"

"I would, would I?"

"Of course you would! You can't take _any_thing seriously! You ought to realise that not everybody has had it as easy as you!"

There was no hint of humour in Vertigo's tone now, "If you think I've had an easy life, you're way off the mark."

"Easier than mine!"

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure."

Gemini frowned and her expression changed from anger to curiosity, "Why, what happened to _you_?"

"Sorry, I believe that's 'none of your damn business'."

She was getting angry again, but before the argument could escalate any further Recyclo stepped between them and placed a sheet of paper down on the table, "I think this is what we're looking for."

We stood to take a closer look.

"Contact details for one Dr Elias Van Gaarde," said Recyclo. "Looks as though he works in New York."

"I think that's where he was holding me, a lab in New York," Gemini added.

"The address is here."

Vertigo sighed, "It would happen. To come all the way down to Florida only to find out we should have been looking in New York all along. Ah well, I suppose it could've been Alaska or Hawaii or something."

"What now?" I said.

"Back to the island," Vertigo decided. "We'll contact Pyro en route. If he wants us to start looking for Van Gaarde straight away, we can make a detour."

Recyclo folded up the sheet of paper and slipped it inside his coat pocket. Only Recyclo would have a worn a jacket in this scorching hot weather, in this case a long black one that brushed the ground when he walked. Maybe he didn't feel the heat; I knew he didn't feel anything _else_.

Gemini's sister was still standing in the garden when we left. The baby was awake now, and it watched each of us with innocent curiosity as we came closer.

"Did you find what you wanted?" Melody asked.

Gemini ignored her, deliberately turning away and walking towards the street. The other two followed her, and I gave Melody and her baby a last glance as I walked past. She smiled at me, mouthing _thank you_ and I smiled back, a little awkwardly. If she knew the truth, she wouldn't be thanking me for anything. I put it out of my mind. It didn't matter now. Pyro and the others need never know what I had just done.

"Yeah, that's about the size of it, boss. What? OK. Yeah, we're on it."

Vertigo switched off the communicator, and turned to the rest of us, "I told Pyro what we found. He wants us to head straight for Van Gaarde's lab and try to track the guy down."

"And then what?" I asked.

"Then I guess we call him again and ask what to do with Van Gaarde once we've got him."

"Kill him," said Gemini.

Vertigo shook his head, "We can't do that. He's got information we need."

"Fine. He tells us where to find the Horsemen, then I rip him apart."

"He's not a friend of yours, then?"

Gemini was about to snap back a retort, when she stopped, took a deep breath, and said, "You will never understand what I've been through, so I'm not even going to try and explain it to you. Nobody could ever understand what I've been through."

"Do not think you are the only one to have spent time in a laboratory."

This last came from Recyclo, who had not said a word since we left Florida, and we turned in surprise to look at him.

"You too?" she asked.

"I didn't say that."

"Is that why you're so – so, um…I mean – "

"So what?"

"I think 'emotionless' is the word she's looking for," Vertigo supplied.

Yeah. Better than 'weird' anyway. Recyclo did not reply, instead turning to look out of the window. We were flying over the ocean, and there was nothing to see but endless expanses of water; he was clearly signalling that his part in the conversation was over. Gemini looked at me, raised her eyebrows questioningly, and I shrugged. It was the very first chance we'd had to see inside the doorway that led to Recyclo's heart. As long as I'd known him that doorway had always been very firmly locked, but this was the first indication that it did indeed open. I glanced over at Vertigo, who was busy with the controls, changing our course to head for Van Gaarde's laboratory in New York.


	4. An Old Enemy and an Old Friend

Chapter Three

It was about an hour later when we found ourselves standing a few yards away from the main entrance to the laboratory in which we hoped to find the scientist Van Gaarde.. From outside the tall glass-fronted building could have been anything: an accounting firm, a corporate headquarters, a college building, a library – its external appearance gave no clue whatsoever to what lay within. I suspected this was deliberate, and my mind was already imagining what terrible and horrific things we might find inside. If this _was_ Van Gaarde's lab, then maybe he had other mutants who had been kept in the same way Gemini had. God only knew what he might be doing to them. If there were any, there was no question – we had to get them out. Maybe they would join us, maybe they would just hide away and try to forget everything that had happened to them – or they might even go crazy and try to kill everything in sight. What about the Horsemen? I couldn't say for sure what had happened to them. If, as we believed, they'd been genetically engineered by Van Gaarde at the government's request, then there seemed no logical reason why they would attack an army installation. Unless Van Gaarde himself was trying to double-cross the government and was using the Horsemen to do it. I didn't know. I couldn't tell. Maybe we would find out more once we got inside.

"The only problem is how to get in," said Vertigo, evidently mirroring my thoughts. "If we want to find Van Gaarde and get information out of him, we can't start any kind of trouble. If he gets the merest indication that he's in danger, he might disappear into a government facility somewhere and we'll never know where he's hiding."

"So you're saying we have to sneak in," said Gemini.

"Brilliant, Holmes. I've been thinking about how we might do it."

I sighed. Stealth was definitely not my preferred way of going about things. I had always been a firm believer in strength over subtlety, but unfortunately there were some situations in which that wasn't possible. This, it seemed, was one of them.

"I think we're going to have to split up," Vertigo said. "We can each use our powers to sneak inside, but no two of us can do it the same way."

"How do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, you can make yourself invisible, right?"

"Yeah, virtually."

"That's your way in. Gemini, you'll have to summon your twin. Get her to cause a distraction, and you can sneak in unnoticed. Recyclo, I know you can climb up vertical walls, so go round the back and find a window or something. Pyro's had a look at some blueprints of the building, and he says there won't be any security guards round there since the building doesn't have a back entrance."

Recyclo nodded silently. Gemini was looking thoughtful, probably trying to decide exactly what kind of distraction her duplicate should stage. Then she looked at Vertigo, "So what about you? Where's your way in?"

He pointed above our heads, "Up there."

I looked up, shielding my eyes against the glare of the sun. I couldn't see anything, only the building stretching up into the sky with an equally tall building alongside it.

"I don't get it," Gemini said. "I don't see anything."

Vertigo replied, "Don't you see the wire running between the two buildings?"

"Yeah…" she responded, then her eyes widened. "You're not serious, are you?"

"What?" I said.

"He's going to walk over the wire between those buildings. Vertigo, tell me you're joking."

"I don't tell jokes in this tone of voice, sweet honey."

She blushed, "Wh – whatever. Isn't it dangerous?"

"Hey, if you want to avoid danger and sit on your ass all day, join the X-Men," he said. "Of course it's dangerous. That's why it's fun. The building next door is a hotel, so I can get in there without any difficulty. I'll find my way up on to the roof, and walk over the wire. It's probably a communications line or something; whatever it is it looks pretty taut. Piece of cake."

I looked at him again to make sure he was being serious. He couldn't honestly be thinking of walking along the wire, could he? Or could he? I knew his mutation gave him near-perfect balance and co-ordination, but I didn't know if it was _that_ near perfect. I told myself not to worry. He knew what he was doing – hopefully. He had been using his power for years so he had to know exactly what it would and wouldn't enable him to do. I cast my worries aside. Gemini still didn't look happy, but Vertigo either didn't notice or didn't care, "Let's move. Pyro's expecting us back with results."

He turned to head for the hotel, when Gemini unexpectedly grabbed his arm and said, "Wait!"

"What?"

"I – I – no, it's nothing, I – "

She let go of his arm, then added, "Just be careful, OK?"

"You know me."

"Yeah, that's what worries us," I said.

But neither of them seemed to hear me. Vertigo looked at Gemini and she looked right back at him. For a moment or so their eyes were locked; her hand was still on his arm, and for the tiniest most infinitesimal fraction of a second they were moving towards each other. Then the spell was broken; Gemini's eyes dropped and her arm fell back to her side.

"Just don't do anything stupid," she mumbled, unwilling to look him in the face.

"I won't. Pyro reckons Van Gaarde's office is most likely on the tenth floor. Make your way there as quietly as possible and I'm sure we'll bump into each other before long."

"Right," I said. "And if we hear a _thud_, that's you about to be scraped off the pavement."

"Don't say that!" Gemini cried.

Vertigo said, "I'll see you guys inside."

With that he turned and began hurrying towards the hotel building. Gemini watched him go, then she turned to me, "Is he going to be all right?"

"I don't know. I guess he knows what he's doing – I hope so, anyway. We'd better get inside too."

"Right."

We looked for Recyclo but he was gone. He must have already gone around the back. Gemini and I headed for a shady spot at the side of the hotel. Using my invisibility or her duplication would not be a good idea in plain view. I made sure nobody could see us, then I called on my camouflage mutation. Gemini gave a little jump of surprise as I vanished from her sight, then she said, "OK. Here goes."

She closed her eyes, tensed her muscles, and gave a gasp of pain as her twin materialised into existence beside her.

"Are you OK?" I asked, steadying her.

"Yeah…yeah…it's getting easier with practice."

"What kind of distraction are you going to cause, exactly?"

"I'm not sure yet. I'll think of something."

It probably wouldn't be difficult for Gemini to cause a diversion. She _was_ stunningly beautiful, even for a fourteen year old girl. More than a few eyes had turned her way during our journey through the streets of New York this afternoon, and not all of them had been our own age. I knew she would think of something.

"I'm going to go in now," I told her. "Good luck."

"You too."

I touched her lightly on the arm as I left, and she smiled. It occurred to me that I could use my power to hide both of us – I had done it before – and we could have gone in together. I hadn't mentioned it to her since I felt it was too risky. I could just about maintain a state of camouflage when I was only hiding myself. It was a lot harder to achieve when more than one person was relying on it. And I knew she probably wouldn't have agreed to it anyway. Gemini would have wanted to be independent, to rely on her own gift rather than needing me to – quite literally – hold her hand.

I glanced behind me as I hurried towards the target building, and I could see one of the twins – presumably the duplicate – moving out towards the main street. It was crowded with traffic and humans, so there was plenty of scope for whatever she had in mind. I brought my attention back to my own attempt at stealth. It was still making me uncomfortable. I had no real experience at this. With enough practice I could probably have used my camouflage to move unseen anywhere at any time, but that wasn't my style. I had grown up a fighter, not a sneaker.

OK. This was the first test. The main entrance to the building was locked, and there didn't appear to be any way to change that fact. No, wait, there was a numeric keypad at the side of the door. Great. It needed an access code. I _definitely_ wasn't an electronic hacker. If only Recyclo were here…no. I had to do this myself. There had to be a way past this, other than smashing my way through the door. With my strength it would have been easy enough, but Vertigo had said we couldn't afford to start a scene. That wasn't why we were here.

I was in luck. As I stood off to the side, a human approached the door from inside the building, and pushed it open. I panicked slightly as she looked straight at me, but my invisibility held and she looked straight through my chameleon form. Completely unaware of my presence, the human moved away, and I reacted quickly to grab the door before it could close behind her. Slipping inside the building, I allowed my eyes a moment or two to adjust to the dimmer lighting within, then I took a deep breath and looked around. It was some kind of entrance hall. Ahead was a security desk, with three or four human guards sitting or standing, two of them locked in an animated conversation about something. Further beyond the desk lay a bank of elevators. The tenth floor…that was where Vertigo had told us to meet up. Moving as quietly as I could, I made my way around the security desk and towards the lifts. Hitting the 'up' button, I looked behind to make sure the guards were unaware of my presence. So far, so good.

I stepped inside the lift when it arrived, and hit the button for the tenth floor. Luckily the lift was empty, and thus no-one would get suspicious that it had been called and nobody – at least nobody visible – had got on board. I knew I would have to deactivate my invisibility once I reached the tenth floor so the others could see me. At that point we would have to trust to luck that we could find this Van Gaarde before anybody became suspicious about our presence.

Whether it was luck or otherwise, the main concourse of floor 10 was empty. I looked around for any signs of my friends, but I couldn't see them. Presumably I was the first one inside. I decided to remain invisible until I saw one or more of them. In the meantime I decided to have a look around. A corridor on the left led down to what looked an array of offices – Van Gaarde's was probably down there. From the turning to the right I could hear sounds of somebody tapping away at a computer keyboard, and I went that way. Around the corner I found an opening on my right, and I glanced inside to see Recyclo. It was he who was working at the computer, his hands flying over the keyboard with practised ease.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

I was still invisible, and I knew he hadn't been aware of my presence. Only Recyclo could have showed no surprise whatsoever at suddenly hearing my voice out of nowhere. He glanced briefly in my direction, then back at the computer screen, "I'm trying to access their files and find out what I can about the Apocalypse mutants."

"Good idea. Have you seen the others?"

"No."

The tone of his voice was conclusive. Conversation over. Recyclo had said so, and thus it would be.

"Is this place empty or have we just been lucky so far?" I asked.

It was a rhetorical question really, and I wasn't expecting him to answer. I was therefore quite surprised when he replied, "It's Sunday."

Was it? I didn't really keep track of the days or the date any more. They didn't matter. I knew that the day the last human drew breath would be the first day of the first month of the first year of our new age. But if it was Sunday then that would explain the lack of humans at work. I just hoped that Van Gaarde was here. I felt pretty sure he would be. He sounded like the kind of man who would devote himself 24/7 to a project like this. I said to Recyclo, "I had a thought earlier. Can you find out if Van Gaarde is keeping any other mutants captive here, like he was with Gemini?"

"That's what I am doing."

"Good. I'll see if I can find the others."

When I stepped back outside the room I could see Gemini exiting one of the lifts, glancing around apprehensively to make sure she was alone. She relaxed once she realised there was nobody there. I deactivated my camouflage so she could see me. The suddenness of my appearance had its usual effect. She jumped in shock, "Stop _doing_ that!"

"Sorry. No problems getting in, I take it?"

"Not really," she said. "My distraction worked according to plan."

"Nicely done."

Suddenly her eyes widened and she said urgently, "Have you seen Vertigo? Is he OK?" 

"Dunno. Recyclo's in the room just around the corner. He's playing with the computers as usual. I'm guessing Vertigo isn't here yet."

"Oh, I hope he's OK…"

"You like him, don't you?"

"Shut up," she said quickly, a red flush rising in her cheeks. "He's – just my friend, that's all."

"Right…well, we'd better wait until he gets here before we start any trouble. In the meantime let's try and find out where Van Gaarde's office is."

I turned to head down the corridor on the left, but Gemini put her hand on my arm and said, "Gladiator, wait…there's something I want to talk to you about."

I faced her, "What?"

She lowered her voice, "The traitor."

Of course. The X-Man spy within our ranks. I hadn't given the matter any thought since our victory over our enemies. The spy had been trying to undermine our plans by giving away information to the X-Men, but it hadn't worked. Pyro had been pursuing the culprit's identity with his usual angry determination, and seemed confident he could find the one responsible. I myself had no idea who it might be. I knew who it _wasn't_, and could thus rule out about half of the Brotherhood, but that didn't mean I was any closer to the solution.

"I've been giving it some thought," Gemini said. "I've been doing the same thing you were doing, starting off by eliminating the people I knew it couldn't be: you, me, Pyro, Cassandra – Acceleratus, obviously. That leaves five."

"Yeah," I said. "I think we can rule out Recyclo too. I know he's weird and we don't like him, but he hates the humans and the X-Men as much as we do. Possibly even more so."

"OK. I decided I could exclude Scarab and Vertigo as well. Scarab just doesn't have the brains to pull it off, and Vertigo – well, he's…he just doesn't act in the way you'd expect a spy to. Like, if I was a spy, I'd try to hide in the background and attract as little attention as possible. That isn't Vertigo. It's not – he isn't like that at all."

I raised en eyebrow, "Are you saying that because you think it's true, or because you want it to be?"

"Huh?"

"Are you sure you aren't just ruling him out because you like him?"

She sighed, "All right, I won't lie to you. I _do_ like him. Don't tell him I said that! He'd probably just laugh. But you must see what I mean. He just doesn't act the way you'd expect, if that's what he was. Think about it – if he _was_ the spy, he could have flown the helicopter straight to the X-Men's base and given us over to them."

"Yeah…I suppose that's true. And I agree about Scarab. If we can eliminate them, that just leaves two."

"Atlas and Mole."

"Who's your money on?"

"I don't know," said Gemini. "That's as far as I've been able to go. Atlas is always acting so paranoid, you know, looking over his shoulder and checking behind doors to make sure there's nobody there. Something's obviously worrying him."

I shrugged, "I've noticed that too, but that could just be his personality. Some people are like that; they can't help it. And if he _is_ the spy, I don't imagine he could keep it hidden from Pyro for very long. As for Mole – "

Gemini nodded, "All the evidence points to him. You fought the traitor once and you couldn't see who it was, but you said it felt like his style of attack. And he let us down in battle that time, remember? He should have known the X-Men were coming and he seemingly didn't raise the alarm."

"No arguments about the evidence, but are you sure you aren't just saying that because you _don't_ like him?"

"I don't _hate_ him," she said. "I just think he's a bit of a creep. I can't wear a skirt or a dress when he's around, because I know he'll try to look at my panties all the time."

"I, uh, I think most teenage guys are like that."

"You're not."

"I'm spoken for. Anyway, why don't you ask Pyro what he makes of the traitor?"

"I haven't been able to speak to him alone. Same with you. It's terrible, not knowing who I can and can't trust. I really hate it."

"Hate what?" came Vertigo's voice from behind her.

She turned, smiling with relief, "You're OK!"

"Of course. You have any problems?"

"None at all."

"Still waiting for Recyclo?"

I indicated behind me, "He's in someone's office around the corner, playing with the computers."

"OK. We've no time to waste, so let's get to it."

We walked around the corner to the small office where Recyclo still sat rigidly in front of the computer, his hands still flitting across the keyboard with unbelievable speed. It was like someone had pressed fast-forward on a video recording of a person typing.

"Hey, Recyclo, ready to go?" asked Vertigo.

Recyclo didn't look up, "You three go. I'll stay here. I might find something important."

"What have you got so far?"

"Not much. It seems Van Gaarde was released from a high-security prison by the government, on the condition that he work on a special project for them: the Apocalypse Project."

"The Horsemen?"

"Yes. It's something to do with your President's assassination."

"Ah yes, your finest hour."

Recyclo did not respond to the joke. Instead he went on, "From what I can tell, the Horsemen were genetically engineered as a 'first line of defence' against further mutant attacks. The plan was that they could act as bodyguards for the President and other important officials. However, when it became clear that none of them could pass for ordinary humans, another use had to be found. The government decided to utilise them as their own counter-force against mutants, to prevent any further attacks from us."

"That's why they were sent to the X-Men's school to wipe them out," I said. "To eliminate any threat they might pose."

"Yes."

Gemini looked confused, "Then…why did the Horsemen attack an army bunker? Were there mutants there too?"

"No. That's all I've got so far. I can only guess that Van Gaarde has lost control of them. I've no idea exactly what method he was using to manipulate them, but presumably something went wrong. Perhaps it was a revenge attack."

"So they might be on our side after all," I said. "If they weren't acting under their own volition when they attacked the mansion, we've no way of knowing what it is they want."

"Well, that's why we're here," said Vertigo. "All right, Recyclo, keep on it. We'll try to find this maniac's office and see if we can persuade him into telling all. Gem, Glad, let's go."

We left the office, and followed Vertigo down the corridor that led to the other rooms. Behind me I could still hear the sound of Recyclo's fingers tapping at the keyboard, but it faded into silence as we got far enough away.

"If I'm right, Van Gaarde's office will be at the end of the corridor," said Vertigo.

"How do you know?"

"Because he's head of the project, and the most important person's room is always at the end of the corridor."

"Why?"

"So they can see what everybody else is doing as they walk past, of course."

We turned left, and the corridor ahead was a dead end. I glanced at the doors as we passed them, but none of the names were Van Gaarde's. It wasn't until we got to the room at the end of the corridor that Vertigo smirked, "And what a surprise: I'm right."

The last door that faced us read **ELIAS VAN GAARDE – HEAD RESEARCHER **in gold letters. Vertigo tried the door, but it was locked. A number pad beside the door seemed to be the only way to gain access.

"Do we break it down?" I asked.

"Recyclo can probably open it up and play with the electronics. I don't know if – "

He was cut off as the door opened from inside. A female human wearing a tight blouse and an obscenely short black skirt smiled at us, "Can I help you?"

Another voice barked from further inside the room, "I don't want to be disturbed! Who is it, Miss Drake?"

"I'm not too sure, sir," the human replied, raising her eyebrows at Vertigo for an explanation.

"We'd like to see Dr Van Gaarde," he said lazily. "You really don't want to try and stop us."

The sub-creature made no attempt to stop him as he gently but firmly brushed her aside and entered. Gemini followed, and I went after her. The human looked me in the eyes as I passed, and a strange sort of smile appeared on her face. As quickly as it had appeared, it was gone, and I gave it no more thought. Entering into the room, I could now see the scientist seated behind the large wooden desk, looking up impatiently.

"What are you, reporters?" he snapped at Vertigo. "I haven't got time to talk to you just now! I'm sure my secretary can arrange an appointment at a convenient ti – "

He stopped the second he saw Gemini's face. 

"_You_!" he yelled. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm going to kill you," she said, the hatred plain in her voice.

He gave a laugh, "I don't think so."

From beneath the desk his hand moved in a flash, and he was pointing a gun directly at Gemini's heart. No – it wasn't a gun. I couldn't tell what it was. It was a smooth, metallic cylinder, about the same size as a bike handle-bar. He was holding it like a weapon, but I didn't know what, if anything, it might do.

"How fortuitous that you should return," said Van Gaarde, speaking to Gemini. "My research never did recover from losing you – or, more correctly, from that other mutant burning down my old laboratory."

"Shut up," Gemini snapped angrily, stepping forward threateningly. "Tell us what you know about the Horsemen or we'll kill you!"

"The Horsemen? What is your interest in them?"

"Shut up!" she spat. "I said tell us! Or do you want my friends to _persuade _you?"

Van Gaarde laughed, "You always were a spirited, stubborn little one, weren't you? You have no idea of the pleasure I took in breaking your spirit and destroying your will to live."

Gemini gave a scream of rage, losing control as she launched herself furiously towards the scientist. He moved quicker than his age might have suggested, bringing the cylinder to bear on her moving figure and flicking a switch on its side. Gemini gave another scream, but this one was not borne of anger. This was borne out of pain. She collapsed to the ground, still screaming, writhing about, her hands tightened into fists, Van Gaarde still pointing the cylinder at her.

"What's wrong with her?"

"It's that thing he's holding! It's doing something to her!"

"What is that thing?" I demanded

The human smirked, "The government employed me to design weapons which specifically target mutants. Let's just say I haven't been idle."

Vertigo didn't waste any time, stepping forward, flipping over in the air to kick the cylinder from the scientist's hand. Van Gaarde was thrown backwards by the force of the kick, and the cylinder spun away to land at the opposite side of the room. Gemini gave a weak gasp as she was released from whatever terrible pain it had been inflicting on her, and Vertigo knelt by her side, "You OK?"

She nodded, her hand reaching out to clasp his as she got herself under control, and he helped her into a sitting position. The cylinder was still lying in the corner, and I asked again, "What _is_ that?"

"That's his mutant torture device," said Gemini, her voice still shaky. "It fires out some kind of energy that plays havoc with our nerves and our pain receptors. He used to use it on me all the time, sometimes for an experiment and sometimes because he just wanted to see me – or any mutant – suffer."

I felt a surge of anger flowing through my system, the first signs of an impending berserk rush. I knew Gemini's mental health wasn't 100%, and this was just another example of the horrific torments that her nine year old self had been subjected to. In some ways she wasn't that different from Marina. Both of them had suffered unimaginable mental agony, yet both of them had dealt with it in very different ways. While Marina had burrowed deep inside herself, refusing to face the world that was so cruel, Gemini was the opposite, acting as outgoing and demonstrative as she could, almost as if she was trying to forge a new persona to cover up or even replace the tortured soul that dwelt within her. My fury escalating higher and higher, I turned to face the scientist. Van Gaarde had been stunned, but he now regained his composure and made a dive for his desk drawer. I thought he must have another cylinder in there, but this time he did pull out a gun.

"All right, get down on the floor, all of you!" he yelled, flicking off the safety catch.

Gemini's weakened form hadn't risen from her seated position, and Vertigo was still kneeling beside her. Neither of them moved, and Van Gaarde pointed his weapon at me.

"What are you going to do with us?" I demanded, trying to buy some time to think of a way to disarm him.

"You and he will be killed," he said, gesturing at Vertigo. "Then my little friend and I will resume our lost acquaintance."

Gemini flinched, and instinctively drew closer to Vertigo for protection. I narrowed my eyes. I knew I would give my own life before I allowed her to be subjected to that torture again. My anger was still rising. My berserk power would increase my speed along with my mutant powers, but whether that would make me fast enough to dodge a bullet, I had no idea. Van Gaarde's secretary walked gracefully around the desk to stand beside him, and he gestured towards the telephone with his free hand, "In a moment, Miss Drake, you will phone security and assure them that they did not hear the sound of two gun-shots from my office."

Her hand reached for the telephone, and Van Gaarde aimed the gun at Vertigo's head. I knew my friend didn't have any time to get out of the way, not from the position he was in. There had to be something I could do to stop this. I couldn't let him shoot. But if I went for the gun, he'd just turn and shoot me. That certainly wasn't any better. Unable to think of anything, I watched helplessly as his finger tightened on the trigger.

With a speed and viciousness that shocked all of us, the young secretary swivelled to send her foot into the man's jaw, flinging him to the ground. Recovering quickly, he brought the gun to bear on her, but she was already moving to kick it out of his grasp, finally knocking him unconscious with a punch to the throat. The whole thing had taken about two seconds, and I was still standing in shock as the human stood, straightened her skirt, tidied her disarrayed hair, her breathing slowing down to normal.

"Who _are_ you?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm…an old friend."

Her features began to morph, and a second later it all made sense.

"Mystique!" Gemini exclaimed, hurrying across the room to put her arms around the blue woman. "You saved our lives!"

Mystique looked less than comfortable with the teen hugging her. I had noticed the same thing with Pyro too; Gemini liked to hug him as if he was her father, though he clearly didn't see their relationship that way. They were the only adults she had contact with – did she see them as natural replacements for the parents who had never loved her? I didn't know. I could only guess. A little awkwardly, Mystique patted Gemini on the back and said, "I've been waiting for you."

"You've what?"

"I knew that Pyro, or someone sent by him, would come looking for Van Gaarde before long. I knew he would want to find out about the Horsemen. I decided to lend him my aid in that respect."

"So you're coming back to us?" Gemini asked eagerly. "You're coming back to the Brotherhood?"

"No. I can't, until a leader rises who can truly succeed Magneto. I can't join Pyro – his vision isn't the same as mine and Magneto's was. I – it doesn't matter. I will help, but I won't become part of his group."

"What you can tell us about the Horsemen?" asked Vertigo, getting straight down to business.

"Come down to the labs and I'll show you. They're on the underground level."

Gemini let go of her, and Mystique morphed back into the shape of the secretary. 

"What about him?" I said, pointing to the unconscious scientist.

"Leave him. Nobody will find him. Only he and I know the access codes to this room. Take the gun and the cylinder though."

I nodded, and bent to pick up the two weapons from where they had landed on the floor. Mystique shuddered inadvertently as she saw the cylinder in my hand, "We thought we had destroyed all of those things. I suppose evil can never be truly destroyed."

With that she turned and led the way to the exit. We went to check on Recyclo, who was still searching computer records, but he hadn't found out anything new. He said he would stay where he was and keep at it. Nobody argued. The rest of us stepped into the elevator, and Mystique hit the button for the underground level. 

"That's _disgusting_," Gemini was saying. "That skirt, I mean. How can you _wear_ that?"

"Van Gaarde expects all his female employees to dress this way. I have to keep up appearances."

"It's _obscene_!"

"Maybe so, but since this isn't my own figure, I don't really care what it's wearing. I don't normally wear anything, remember."

"I guess…"

"OK. Here we are. There shouldn't be anybody down here on a Sunday, but if there is I can probably get what we need without any problems. Being Van Gaarde's secretary has its advantages – it means I can get people to do things for me with no questions asked."

The doors opened, and we stepped out. A quick glance or two told that us nobody else was around. 

"This is the lab where Van Gaarde first performed the research on genetically engineering the Horsemen," said Mystique. "I hate to say it, Gemini, but part of that research was you. Anyway, it was a different facility in which the actual 'breeding' process took place. I believe Pyro had you destroy that one."

I nodded. She went on, "In doing so you released the Horsemen a month or so earlier than Van Gaarde had intended. Think of it as a premature birth. They are not quite as strong, not quite as 'perfect' as he planned them to be. That may work to our advantage."

"But what's the point of creating them?" Gemini asked. "What are they – well, what are they supposed to do?"

"They are the government's latest attempt to solve the 'mutant problem'. The old adage goes something like 'it takes a thief to catch a thief'. In this case they believe that the easiest way to destroy mutant life is to use our kind to do it."

"But the Horsemen have gone rogue. Something's gone wrong," Vertigo guessed

"Correct. Van Gaarde's method of controlling their minds and their actions is something of a closely guarded secret. All I know is that the Horsemen have some kind of bio-mechanical devices implanted in their heads. From this lab we can use the computers to send them instructions and information. Recently, however, their behaviour has been increasingly erratic. Two days ago they stopped responding to the implants at all. Whether they are acting under their own volition, or whether the input to the devices is being corrupted and warped in some way, I can't tell. But that isn't the only strange thing."

"Go on," said an intrigued Gemini.

"OK. I've been here less than a week, posing as his secretary. Everything I know is from reading the files here and at her home. What I mean to say is, I've never actually met the Horsemen or had any sort of contact with them. And in the files I discovered something very, _very_ odd."

"What?"

"About three months ago there was an accident in the breeding lab – that's the one you destroyed, remember. I don't know exactly what happened – some kind of radiation leak, I think – but according to the files, two of the Horsemen died."

Had I misheard?

"Say again?"

"Two of the Horsemen died."

"So what, there were six originally?" asked Gemini.

"No. There have only ever been four."

"I thought you said two of them died."

"I know! I know it doesn't make any sense. I spent hours going over the files, trying to make sense out of it, but that's all I got. Two of them died. The next report, a week later, is a standard report on the status of all four. Something must have happened – I don't know if it's possible to clone them or something like that – but something must have happened during that week. There are no files from that period, neither here or at the secretary's house. Van Gaarde must have destroyed them or hidden them."

"Maybe it's on the computer. Recyclo might find it," I suggested. "Mystique…out of interest, which two Horsemen died?"

"The ones Van Gaarde named Famine and Death. Am I correct in assuming that you've already encountered them?"

"More than once," I said. "I fought them when they tried to kill off the X-Men."

She looked at me suspiciously, "What, the X-Men had you there to rescue them?"

I knew Mystique probably still didn't trust me. I couldn't really blame her. The rest of my family were human sympathisers, and I was only a recent addition to the Brotherhood. Still, when she found out about my victory over Crusader she would probably be convinced. I replied, "It was while we were breaking Pyro out of their base. You helped us with that, remember? The Horsemen tried to kill the children at the mansion; _that's_ why I got in their way."

"Fair enough. Tell me, what does Pyro intend to do about this?"

"About the Horsemen?" said Gemini. "I'm not sure. I think he just wants to find out what they're doing. If it threatens mutant life, we stop them. If it doesn't, we mind our own business. We came here to try and find out where they're hiding, so we can keep an eye on them."

Mystique nodded, "I thought so. You can use the machines in this laboratory to track their position through their brain implants."

"Wait a minute. If these things are implanted in their brains, does that mean we can read their thoughts and find out what it is they want? Or does it not work that way?"

"I don't think so. As far as I can tell, the implants are input-only devices."

"Will you help us track them down?"

"I'll see what I can do. The machines are over here."

We followed her across the laboratory to an isolated section with four computer terminals. They were labelled **DEATH, FAMINE, PESTILENCE, WAR** and I assumed each of them was dedicated to controlling each Horseman. Mystique sat down in front of the first one, the one for Death. As the computer loaded into action, I stared blankly at the controls and symbols that appeared on the screen. This had to be seriously high-level bio-tech stuff – in other words, _way_ over my head. Mystique seemed to know what she was doing, hitting a sequence of keys until she had what we wanted.

"There. GPS data. I can feed it into a computer over here – " we moved across to another machine. " – and tap into the government's spy satellite network to find out exactly where the Horsemen are."

"Neat," said Vertigo appreciatively.

"Yeah. OK, here we are. Hmm…looks like they're not too far away from here. They're in New York, anyway. I'm trying to narrow it down a bit further – hang on…"

"That's only one of them though, isn't it?" Vertigo said. "We're assuming that all four of them are together."

"I think Death is their leader – or the closest thing they have to one," I answered. "It seems likely he'd be at the centre of whatever it is they're planning."

"Yeah, I guess."

"OK, here it is," said Mystique. "He's at the south edge of New York state. These are his exact co-ordinates."

She scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to Gemini.

"So what's down there?" Gemini asked.

"I don't know. You'll have to find that out for yourselves."

"Aren't you coming with us?"

"No. I told you, I'm not going to join Pyro's group. I will help you when you need me, but that is all."

"So what are you gonna do now?"

"I will assume the form of another of Van Gaarde's staff, and keep an eye on him. I can't just kill him, because he might have more information you need. The body I'm in just now – well, let's just say the police will receive an anonymous phone call and discover that she's been murdered in her home."

"OK. Take care," said Gemini. "I guess we'd better be going. Pyro said we should hurry."

She gave the piece of paper with the co-ordinates to Vertigo; he glanced at it, then slipped it into his pocket. We turned to leave.

"Gemini, wait," said Mystique. "There is one last thing. Does Pyro know I'm alive?"

"I don't think so. We tried to tell him that you helped us rescue him from the X-Men, but I don't think he believed us."

"Good. Don't tell him about me this time. I'd prefer he continue to think I'm dead."

Gemini frowned, "Why?"

"It's – hard to explain. Let's just say I have made my decision that I don't want to be part of what he is doing. I wish to remain apart – for now, anyway."

"But shouldn't we let him know you're OK? He must have been upset when he thought you got killed."

"I doubt that. Pyro doesn't care about anyone other than himself."

Gemini looked shocked, "_What_ did you just say? Pyro _does_ care about us! He saved my life! It was him who got me away from Van Gaarde the first time, remember!"

Mystique sighed, "Gemini…I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but you're fooling yourself. He's neither the great hero nor the father figure you make him out to be."

"But he saved my life! He found out I was being kept here and he came to save me!"

"I'm afraid that's not quite correct. It was Magneto, not Pyro, who spent the time and effort to find out what had happened to you and where you were being imprisoned. When Magneto asked him to get you out, Pyro refused, said he had better things to do with his time. It wasn't until Magneto made it a direct order that he complied."

"You're lying!"

"Why would I do that? Look, I'm not saying you don't mean anything to him. Maybe he has changed since I last met him, I don't know. But one thing I do know for sure: Pyro always looks after number one, and rarely will he think of anyone else before himself. That's why he's different from Magneto. That's why I can't join him."

Gemini didn't want to believe it. She looked away and said, "I'm going to go back upstairs now."

Without looking back she hurried to the elevator. Vertigo watched her go, and Mystique said to us, "You can't waste any time. You'd better go. But watch over her for me. I still care about her."

Vertigo nodded, and the two of us followed Gemini. I wasn't sure about most of what Mystique had just told us, but she had definitely got one thing right. There was no time to waste.


	5. Allegiance Unknown

Chapter Four

"Pyro wants us to go straight to these co-ordinates and see what we can find," said Vertigo, as he switched off the helicopter's communicator. "I've programmed it into the navigational computer and activated the auto-pilot – it should take us about half an hour to get there. He also said there's an army munitions bunker near that position, which might be where the Horsemen are heading. Did you find anything else on the computers?"

Recyclo glanced at him, "Nothing you didn't learn from Mystique. From what I could tell, however, it seems certain there aren't any mutants being held there in the same way that Gemini and – in the same way that Gemini was."

"That's good," I said. "I'm confused about the Horsemen, guys. Are they on our side or are they our enemies or what?"

"I don't think we can pass judgement until we've actually seen them in action," said Vertigo. "What they did before happened while they were under Van Gaarde's control. Under their own choices, we don't know what their plans are."

"What if they join with the X-Men? That could tip the balance against us."

"I was thinking that too," Vertigo admitted. "They _did_ fight the X-Men before, so that should hopefully cloud the possibility of an alliance."

Recyclo interrupted, "Even if they do form an alliance, it won't make a difference. We've already won. The humans are dying and the vaccine is destroyed. The X-Men and the Horsemen could join together and wipe us out, and it wouldn't make a difference. It wouldn't bring the humans back. The X-Men will realise that."

"Yeah, right," Gemini spat. "As if anything remotely like logic would ever enter their heads. You heard what those kids said when we went to their mansion, what the X-Men brainwashed them into believing. It was 'the Brotherhood are evil' and 'we must destroy the Brotherhood' from everybody in sight."

A slight exaggeration, but I knew what she meant. She went on furiously, "Don't they realise we're just fighting to keep ourselves alive?! All of us in the Brotherhood would be dead if the humans had had their way! What do the X-Men expect us to do, just sit still and allow ourselves to be _killed_?!"

"Who knows or cares what they think?" said Vertigo. "We know we're doing what's right for our species. And if somebody gets in our way, we push them gently but firmly aside. That's what we've done."

I nodded, "He's right. We've won. There's no reason to hate them any more. I'm prepared to forgive them once they acknowledge that we've saved them and the rest of our race."

Recyclo's hand twitched slightly and he curled it into a fist, "I would not be so compassionate towards them."

"I'll never forgive them," Gemini said angrily. "I was stuck in that laboratory for nearly two years before Pyro saved me! The X-Men must have known I was there, if their super-telepath Xavier was everything he was supposed to be. They knew I was there and they just didn't care! Of course, if I'd been human, they'd have moved heaven and earth to set me free."

Recyclo nodded. I said, "I was going to suggest to Pyro that we do something to rescue the kids from the mansion. They're being brainwashed into hating their own kind, and we can't let the X-Men do that. Admittedly I don't think we have the capabilities to look after the kids ourselves, but we must be able to find somewhere safe they can live."

"I agree," said Vertigo. "I'll mention it to him when we get home."

There was little or no conversation for the remainder of the journey. Gemini seemed moody, Vertigo was thinking hard about something, and Recyclo was…well, Recyclo. This time I didn't mind the silence so much. There was plenty on my mind. I had thought that with our victory over the X-Men, all my worries and fears would fall away. I was wrong. Strangely, it was as if nothing had really changed. Maybe it would take time to set in. Maybe when the human population really started to drop, it would begin to sink in. Of course, we still had worries. The spy. The Horsemen. Van Gaarde. The X-Men. And there was still this nagging uncertainty deep inside me, the feeling that we were doing the wrong thing. I had tried to reason with my doubts, to convince myself that we _were_ doing the right thing, but it hadn't made the doubts go away. It had pushed them down, quietened them a little, but nevertheless they remained, like a stubborn itch at the small of my back which I just couldn't reach. I tried to ignore them, tried to think about something else, but they wouldn't go away. Maybe I should talk to Pyro; he could probably help clear up my confusion. Not that I was particularly comfortable at the prospect of telling him my doubts, especially while he was on the hunt for the spy.

We arrived at the co-ordinates Mystique had given us, and Vertigo flew a tight circle over the area while we looked around for any evidence of the Horsemen.

"Look," said Gemini. "Over there, that must be the military bunker Pyro told you about."

"That must be the Horsemen's target," said Vertigo. "I can see soldiers standing on guard outside, so presumably they haven't attacked yet. I'll touch down and we can keep an eye out to see what happens."

A few minutes later, the helicopter concealed within some trees, we were approaching the military bunker from the east, looking for somewhere we could hide and keep watch. There was a small sort of sunken recess in the ground at the edge of the woods, and Vertigo seemed to be heading that way. We followed him, and the four of us ducked down inside the small crevice.

"I hope something happens soon," Vertigo said. "We're only assuming the Horsemen are here to attack this bunker. They could be sitting around discussing capitalist strategies in a free-market economy for all we know."

"I still don't understand why these guys are attacking army bunkers anyway," said Gemini. "Are they looking for something? Are they trying to weaken the military to stop them from hurting mutants?"

"Did you ever turn up anything on the online storage records?" Vertigo asked.

He was addressing Recyclo, who answered, "The first bunker they attacked was mainly used for storage of explosives – bombs and missiles, that kind of thing."

"They're going to blow up something?" Gemini guessed.

I shrugged, "I dunno. If only we could find out exactly what it is they _want_, what the main goal is that's driving them. Are they going to attack somebody or something? Are they just trying to protect themselves? Is it something else entirely? We really need to know what they're planning, in case it threatens us or any other mutants."

Recyclo interrupted. "Something's happening."

Vertigo looked over, "Oh, perfect timing. Trust my expert piloting skills to get us here just at the right time. Haven't I always – "

"Vertigo?" I said.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

We watched as the scene unfolded before us. A truck had just pulled up to the front of the bunker, and three or four soldiers were going over to investigate. From the back of the truck two figures had just jumped on to the ground. I recognised them as two of the Apocalypse mutants: the giant War and the insectoid Pestilence. I could make out two shapes in the front seats; those had to be the other two Horsemen, Famine and Death. The soldiers had now got close enough to see the Horsemen, and had clearly realised that all was not well. The humans tensed, I could hear shouts, weapons were raised – then Pestilence struck. Spitting a mouthful of acid at one of the soldiers, he leapt through the air to land on top of a second, his claws ripping into the man's chest. Before the other two grunts could react, the insectoid spat acid at one of them and leapt to kill the fourth with his claws. The two soldiers who had been spat upon writhed on the ground for a few seconds, clutching at their faces, then they fell still. I assumed they were dead.

The truck doors were thrown open, and the ghost-like Death glided elegantly out of the vehicle. From the other side came Famine, and the four of them began heading towards the bunker's entrance. I heard another shout, and another group of soldiers, six or more, were hurrying round the side of the building towards the Horsemen. Death raised a hand to give some kind of signal, and the other three Horsemen began to move. Pestilence spat acid at one soldier while War lifted one of the dead grunts, launching the corpse at the approaching humans. It knocked two of them to the ground, but the others recovered quickly and ducked into defensive positions, opening fire on the Horsemen. I watched as bullets hit Death in the head, chest, arms and legs, and I expected him to fall to the ground dead.

"What the _hell_…" Vertigo breathed.

Death was still standing. He did not appear to be hurt in any way, and as one the soldiers checked their weapons, making sure they were indeed firing live ammunition. Presumably this was the case, as they opened fire once more. Death's body was riddled with bullets a second time, yet he did not even flinch. Pestilence and War had run behind the truck for cover, while Famine and Death moved forward. Some of the humans had begun firing at Famine, but he did not appear to be suffering any ill effects either. The soldiers began falling back; one of them pulled the pin out of a grenade and flung it at the two Horsemen. Instinct made me duck slightly, even though I was too far away to be in any danger, and I could feel Gemini moving closer to me, her breath hot on my neck, as the explosive went off.

From amidst the clouds of swirling sands and dust, Famine and Death walked on unharmed. The grenade had not harmed them in the slightest. The humans clearly began to panic, some of them fleeing, some of them firing blindly at the approaching mutants, some of them throwing down their weapons and pleading for mercy. The Horsemen were not impressed. War grabbed two soldiers and snapped them in half; Pestilence sliced another one open; Famine put his hand around the neck of another, draining the man's life force. Then Death struck. From within the folds of his black coat came a hand as white as chalk, shooting out to seize the throat of the last remaining soldier. The man clawed at the hand, trying to pull free, his movements frenzied and desperate. Suddenly he stopped, his body jerking to a rigid halt. Was Death choking him to – well, death? No. He couldn't be. His grip on the man's neck was still loose, his muscles were not taut. Yet the man was dying, I could see that. What was happening? Was this Death's unknown mutation? I watched as the man's body slowly changed, seeming to almost decay, then Death threw the body aside and shouted something to the other Horsemen. The four of them began moving towards the bunker entrance once more.

"What the hell was that?" Gemini demanded. "What happened?"

"Sshh!!" Vertigo hissed. "Keep your voice down!"

"Don't be stupid; they can't hear us over this distance!"

"We don't know powers they have or what they're capable of, so keep quiet, OK?"

Gemini fell silent and we went back to spying on the Horsemen. Whatever resistance they had encountered inside the bunker had obviously not kept them long, as they emerged from within only a few minutes later. War was carrying a pair of heavy containers marked with military emblems; we could only guess at what was inside. Pestilence ran on ahead to fully open the back doors of the army truck, and War stowed his burdens inside. Famine and Death were close behind, and they climbed into the front seats once more. As we watched, the other two Horsemen got into the back with the containers, the truck was thrown into gear and it began to pull away. When it had disappeared out of sight, Vertigo looked at the rest of us and said, "OK. So they're stealing supplies from the army. From the way they killed those soldiers, it's obvious they're no longer affiliated with the government or the military in any way. They're clearly working under their own volition now."

"I wonder what's in those crates…" Recyclo thoughtfully.

"Dunno," said Gemini. "Probably guns and stuff. Maybe they're trying to start up some kind of terrorist movement. Do you think they're going to try and wipe out the humans too, for what the scum did to them?"

I shook my head slowly, "No, it can't be weapons. Mutants don't use weapons; we don't need them. We've got our powers. You saw them fight just now; they have no need of guns. Unless it was explosives or something…"

"What _do_ they want all this stuff for? Maybe they've betrayed the government and they're working for a foreign country. Maybe they're working for the Russians and stealing US army equipment to start a war."

"Nah. The Russians are in the middle of trying to land a cosmonaut on Mars. They can't afford to go to war with America now. More likely the Horsemen are working for a terrorist group, or like you said, trying to start their own."

"We can only guess," Vertigo decided. "I'll contact Pyro and see what he says. In the meantime I think we'd better get back to the helicopter. When the humans find out about this, they'll send more soldiers to discover what happened. We don't need to be here when that happens."

"Aren't we going to follow the Horsemen?" she asked.

"What, and make them suspicious? There's no need. If we want to find them again, we can just ask Mystique. She can use the machines in the lab to pinpoint their location, remember."

Gemini picked herself up from the ground, brushing dust and dirt from the seat of her dress, "All right, let's go."

We headed back to the chopper and Vertigo picked up the communicator straight away, entering the island's frequency, idly tapping his fingers on the chopper's control panel as he waited for a response. I strapped myself into the seat behind him, and smiled at Gemini as she sat down next to me. Recyclo walked to the rear of the helicopter to sit as far as possible from the rest of us.

"Weird," said Vertigo, frowning slightly. "I'm not getting any response. Pyro's not answering."

"Maybe the communicator's broken," Gemini said.

"Could be. Recyclo, you wanna take a look?"

Our electronics expert silently rose from his position at the back, and walked forward to open up the control panel, exposing a clump of wiring and circuitry, the complexity of which scared me just to look at. Recyclo poked at a few of them, his grey eyes travelling emotionlessly over the comm. system's innards, then he replaced the cover and said, "It's in perfect working order."

"Pyro must not be answering," I said.

Gemini shrugged, "Well…maybe he's taking a shower or something."

Vertigo shook his head, "In that case the communicator should have automatically switched to the speaker in his private bathroom. If he isn't answering it's because he isn't there."

"Then the rest of them must have gone off somewhere else," she said. "Pyro said they would stand ready if necessary, didn't he?"

"Yes, to fight against the Horsemen if they did something to threaten mutants. We've just seen them and they weren't doing anything of the kind."

She snapped, "All right, what's _your_ explanation?"

"I dunno. We'd better get back to the island as fast as we can."

"You think something's wrong?"

"Let's just say I don't want to take any chances."

He quickly performed his pre-flight checks, then hit the controls and the helicopter began to lift into the air. Turning to face north east, we began on our way back home.

"Pyro, come in. Pyro, do you read me? This is Vertigo. Pyro? Anybody down there?"

We were within visual range of the island now, and as we got closer it gradually changed from a faint speck on the horizon into a recognisable shape. The communicator, however, remained silent. There was no response from Pyro, wherever he was and whatever he was doing.

"I don't like this," Gemini said nervously. "Do you think something's happened to him? Oh, I hope he's OK…"

To my mind the obvious explanation was that Pyro and the others were away somewhere, but I couldn't think where that might be. We knew the Horsemen hadn't done anything to provoke a response, and there was no other reason for the rest of them to leave – was there? Even if there was, they would surely have sent a message to let us know they were leaving. Had something gone wrong on the island? Suddenly it came to me. The traitor. The spy, the X-Man in disguise, must have done something. My brain began imagining all sorts of horrendous possibilities: Pyro and the others could have been attacked, even murdered. My fear rose and I tried to block out the sudden images of what Cassandra and Acceleratus would look like lying dead in pools of their own blood. 

Another thought occurred to me. What if it was Crusader? What if she had broken loose somehow – what if the traitor had freed her? As much as I respected Pyro and my friends, I knew they wouldn't have stood a chance against her. If she had got out of her cell, she would have been able to take over the island in seconds without me to stop her. What would she have done? Would Crusader have killed Pyro and Cassandra and the rest? No. She wasn't that kind of person, but still…she _was_ an X-Man, and nobody could fathom what made them do what they did. Was she on the island now, in control, setting plans in motion to save the human race? I didn't know. We wouldn't know until we touched down on the island. I knew Vertigo was flying as fast as possible, but still it felt as slow as treacle. The island was growing bigger and bigger in our forward view-port, and I knew it was only going to take minutes to get there, but in my worried and anxious state it felt like years.

Before too long, however, we were close enough to make out the features of the island: the sanctuary building; Atlas' gardens; the cliff-tops; the beach; the aircraft pad where our jet sat motionless. So that meant they were still on the island. Suddenly I felt another terrible fear growing inside of me. Something was wrong – badly, terribly wrong. At first I couldn't see what it was, then it struck me with a deadening dread and a confounding simplicity: there were two jets sitting on the pad, not just one. Outside the second one stood a cluster of figures dressed in black.

The X-Men had arrived on the island.


	6. Shattered Illusion

Chapter Five

Vertigo, preoccupied with flying, hadn't noticed, but Gemini suddenly grabbed my arm and pointed, "Look!"

"I see them."

I noticed something else strange. There were more figures in black than there were X-Men. There should only have been eight of them – and yet, my eyes counted nine…ten…eleven…this was bad. Had they acquired some new acolytes to their bizarre cause? Movement in the corner of my eye told me that Recyclo was on his feet beside us, staring out of the front view-port.

"The X-Men," he stated needlessly.

"What the _hell_ are they doing here?" Gemini demanded. "How the hell did they know where we're based?"

"The spy must have told them," Vertigo said.

"_Damn it_!" she shouted, then grabbed Vertigo by the shoulder. "Go faster! Get us down there now! We've got to fight them before they can kill Pyro and the others!"

"I'm going as fast I can! I'm going to have to find somewhere else to land! I can't touch down on the heli-pad with them standing there!"

"Well, whatever you're doing, do it faster!" she insisted.

The black-clad figures below had clearly spotted the approaching helicopter, and we could see them hurrying into new positions, moving in groups, obviously aware of who was in the chopper, getting ready to defend themselves.

"Where's Pyro? Why isn't he out fighting them?" Gemini cried. "I'll _kill _them if any harm comes to him!"

Recyclo suddenly spoke, "Vertigo, pull up over the cliffs then fly low over the grassy field. They'll lose sight of us, and Gladiator and I can jump out. You and Gemini find somewhere to land, then approach them from the other side. We'll take them from both directions and destroy them."

Vertigo nodded, "All right. Get ready!"

I unclipped the straps that held me to my seat, and Recyclo walked over to release the lock that held the door closed.

"Good luck!" Gemini called.

I was thrown off balance as the helicopter rose sharply, aiming for the cliff tops, and I just about managed to regain my footing. As we levelled out, clearing the cliffs, I could see the green shades of the grassy field whizzing past below. Vertigo reduced height as low as he dared, and Recyclo threw open the door. The chopper's speed had dropped considerably, so it wasn't as suicidal an action as it might have seemed. I didn't give it any thought – saving my friends on the island was taking precedence over my own self-preservation – and as Recyclo leaped out on to the grasses below, I did the same.

He landed gracefully, rolling over once or twice to check his horizontal velocity, and I did my best to emulate him. I landed with a bigger jolt than I might have liked, skidding along the ground until I came to a halt. It took a second or two to get my breath back, but I didn't seem to have incurred any injuries, and I got to my feet. Recyclo was already hurrying off in the direction we had last seen our enemies. I ran after him, and grabbed his arm, "Wait a minute!"

He turned, staring at me, "What?"

"We have to stop them getting my sister out! That's what they'll be trying to do! We have to head them off before they can reach the sanctuary!"

"Then do that. I'm going to favour the more direct route."

"No, we have to stick together!"

He pulled his arm free, "I do not stick together with people. I fight alone."

He turned and hurried off, not looking back, a blade appearing in each of his hands. I put him out of my mind. I had to concentrate on what was most important. I had to find Pyro and the rest. I had to make sure that Cassandra and Acceleratus were all right. I headed for the sanctuary as fast as I could. I had no idea where any of them were, but Crusader's prison seemed the best place to aim for until I had further leads. It was just as I was approaching the sanctuary building that I saw the huge jet of flame shooting into the air from the other side of the building. It had to be Pyro! At least he was still alive. I changed my path to head in that direction. As I ran around the side of the sanctuary, I activated my camouflage, ready to face whatever awaited me when I got there.

It wasn't good. Most of the Brotherhood lay on the ground, unconscious or dead. Atlas was down, as were Scarab and Mole. I thanked God when I saw Cassandra still on her feet, sheltering the tiny, terrified Acceleratus in her arms. Pyro stood over them, clearly determined to defend them to the last, blasting columns of fire out towards the invaders. There were at least four X-Men attacking my friends' last stand. Iceman, Wolverine and Nightcrawler were among them; I couldn't see who the fourth one was. As I watched, Nightcrawler teleported behind Pyro, kicking him in the back, knocking him forwards, the lighter falling from his grasp. Even as Pyro desperately grabbed for it, Wolverine was on him, holding him down, his outer claws snapping into place on either side of Pyro's neck, the middle claw remaining sheathed – for now.

"_No_!!" Cassandra screamed.

"Get her!" one of them yelled.

My girlfriend propelled Acceleratus away from her, "Run, Accel, run!"

The little girl didn't need telling twice, and with a blur of speed she fled away. Nightcrawler teleported to grab her, holding her struggling, screaming form. 

"Let her go!" Cassandra shrieked.

Pyro fought furiously to escape, but Wolverine held him still.

"Lay a hand on that child and I'll kill you," Pyro spat.

Wolverine growled, "Shut up. I'll be the one making the demands. Where's Crusader?"

"Go to hell!"

Now the middle claw extended, slowly until it began to pierce the skin on the back of Pyro's neck.

"I asked you a question, _kid_. Where is she?"

Pyro remained defiant, "Ha! Can't you do anything without her?"

"That's rich coming from you. Without Gladiator you're _nothing_, Pyro. In fact, you're less than nothing, you're – "

He stopped suddenly, raising his head to sniff at the air. I reacted quickly, realising he must have smelled me. Hurrying across the remaining distance, I kicked Iceman to the floor then inhaled deeply and breathed a jet of flame directly towards Wolverine. Pyro's hand raised instantly, the fire obeying his command, and he hurled it at his assailant. Wolverine screamed as the flames burned into his skin, his claws retracting as he rolled on the floor to smother the fire. Pyro jumped to his feet, "Gladiator! Where are you?"

I deactivated my camouflage and materialised into his view. He smirked, "Perfect timing! Again!"

I breathed another fireball into the air, and he took control of it, firing it at Nightcrawler. The blue mutant was forced to teleport to safety, and Pyro stopped the flames before they could hurt Acceleratus. The little girl ran straight to Cassandra. My girlfriend was pointing behind me, "Look out!"

I whirled, just in time to see Cyclops with his hand to his visor, ready to fire. Diving to the ground, avoiding his optic ray by mere inches, I rolled over and breathed fire once more. Pyro launched it at Cyclops, who was forced to dive into cover. The stunned Iceman was beginning to pick himself up, and Cassandra grabbed Pyro to pull him out of the way of a clawed attack from Wolverine.

"Where are the others?" Pyro shouted.

"Uh – they're around somewhere!" I said. "What do you want me to do?"

"Help me fight them off! Cassandra, Acceleratus, get Mole and the rest to safety!"

The girls responded instantly to his command, grabbing hold of Scarab's fallen body and dragging him away from the scene of battle. He was presumably still alive if Pyro was concerned about getting him to safety. That was good, I had other things to worry about right now; the X-Men had re-grouped and were converging upon us. Cyclops was with them, as was another figure. It took me a moment to realise who it was – I had never seen him wearing their uniform before – it was Helios. So they had brainwashed him too. He had been my friend once, but there probably wasn't much left of the boy I had once known as Dominic. All I saw now was just another rabid, frothing mutant-hater. He raised his hand towards the sun, and I knew he was about to reflect its light into our eyes.

"Cover your eyes!" I said to Pyro, raising my hand to shield my sight.

He did likewise. We'd avoided being temporarily blinded by the sun, but with our eyes shut we had given the X-Men just the time they needed to move closer towards us. When I opened my eyes again Wolverine was leading the charge, all six of his claws out in readiness to attack.

"Take him," Pyro ordered.

I didn't hesitate, hurrying forward to tackle the furious X-Man. Just as we came together I activated my camouflage, and took advantage of the sudden confusion to drive my fist into Wolverine's chest. Thrown to the ground stunned, he lay still for a moment and I was ready to face the next attacker. Nightcrawler teleported out of the way before I could strike him, reappearing behind me. I spun, spitting a mouthful of flame in his direction. He teleported away once more, but Pyro took control of the fire and I left him to take care of Nightcrawler. I knew this was going to get harder before it got easier. There were eleven X-Men here – eight plus Helios, I didn't know who the last two were – and I had a feeling that the two-man defence of myself and Pyro would soon be massively outnumbered. Reinforcements presently arrived, but not for our side. Anger rose in me as I saw Shapeshifter and Shock hurrying to join the melee. 

"Gary!" she cried. "You don't have to do this!"

They were persistent, I had to give them that. Some of them still seemed convinced that they could turn me back to their side. As my fury continued to escalate, I felt my camouflage drop.

"Pyro!" Cassandra screamed, pushing him to the ground just as Shock's electric bolt sizzled through the air exactly where he had been standing.

Storm and Rogue were now in attendance as well. They surrounded us, X-Men in all directions, the four of us being forced together into an ever-tightening circle.

"It's over, Pyro," said Cyclops. "Give up and we won't hurt any of your children."

"Surrender?" Pyro spat. "I'll die first."

"That can be arranged," said Wolverine.

The boiling rage inside me that had been threatening to overflow, finally did so. With an angry roar I felt myself ascending into my berserk state, my powers and my speed amplifying to their highest levels. My camouflage slipped easily back into place, and I headed for the enemies. Taken by surprise, they had no time to react, and I had punched three of them to the ground before the others responded to the new threat. They began to back away, drawing together into a group, but I was unstoppable, my invisible form flitting between them, devastating punches sending them flying through the air before they even knew I was there. We were near the edge of one of the smaller cliffs now, with nothing but a hundred foot drop to the ocean below.

Storm was the first to calm herself and make any response of note, her eyes whitening as she raised her arms and summoned the forces of nature which protected her. I felt the first gusts of a gale force wind whipping around me, and I made straight for her. The rest of the X-Men had gathered behind Storm, and as the wind increased in speed and power I was thrown off balance. I struggled to get back to my feet as the wind, now near hurricane force, swept me to the ground once more. With an angry burst of strength I jerked upright, but I had only served to throw myself further off balance and the next squall of wind lifted my entire body from the ground, hurling me over the cliff edge.

A hundred feet of air was all that was under me now as I plummeted from the cliff top to the water below. I twisted in mid-air, throwing out my arms to try and grab some part of the vertical cliff wall, but I only succeeded in scraping my arm on a jagged rock. I couldn't find any purchase and I continued to drop. Instinct kicked in and I brought my arms in towards my side, trying to make myself as hydrodynamic as possible, to lessen the impact when I hit the water. Would I survive? I had no idea. I was about to find out.

The shock of impact rendered me senseless, and the next thing I knew I was beneath the water. It hadn't occurred to me to breathe in before I hit the water, and my lungs were already straining for another mouthful of air. I had survived the drop, but I wouldn't live long if I didn't get to the surface. Struggling to get my shocked body under control, I tried to propel myself upwards. Something was wrong. I couldn't move. I was stuck. Looking down I saw that my right foot was trapped between some rocks. Pulling angrily at it, I tried to force myself free. The rocks wouldn't budge, and pulling any harder would only pull my leg apart. That was better than drowning, but still…I tried to reach down and probe with my hands, edging my foot out carefully, but I had no co-ordination underwater and my lungs were still screaming for air. In a moment or two I would begin to pass out, and then I would drown. I still couldn't work my foot free. Worse still, my arm was bleeding where I had scraped it on the rock wall, and in the murky depths of the ocean I could make out shapes flicking their way through the water towards me. Sharks.

The first of them was on me in seconds as I made another desperate attempt to pull myself clear. I knew the weakest point on a shark's body was its nose, and my instinct took over as the deadly predator approached, my fist snaking out to punch the creature's snout. The shark hurriedly turned and backed away, but I knew it would be back within seconds. At least I had bought myself that much time. It was useless, however, as I just couldn't find the way to free my trapped limb. More sharks were on me now, and I swung my fist through the water, hoping the sudden movement would scare them. It didn't appear to. The biggest shark lunged for me, its huge jaws opening wide.

From behind the shark I saw another shape, moving at incredible speed, hurtling through the water like a torpedo. A tremendous blow caught the shark on the nose, and it turned tail to flee away. The rest of the sharks, startled by this intruder, had followed suit and I was beginning to black out, my vision swimming in front of my eyes. I was only vaguely aware of this person's hands being placed on either side of my mouth and a pair of lips pressing against mine. My dizzy, half-conscious brain concluded that somebody was trying to kiss me. How strange. Not a bad way to die, really. 

As fresh air was breathed into my mouth and gratefully sucked down into my lungs, I began to think more clearly. I wasn't dead yet. I had at least a minute or so more. I tugged at my leg once again, trying to force it free, but a hand on my ankle told me to stop and I relaxed. The black-clad figure was now down at the ocean floor by my trapped foot; small, gentle hands worked their way between the rocks, carefully prising my foot free. As it came loose, I felt tremendous relief spreading throughout my system, and I struck out for the surface at last. I had honestly thought I was facing my last moments alive until this mysterious figure had appeared from nowhere to pull me to safety. As I rose to the surface I looked around for my rescuer, but whoever it was had already reached the surface ahead of me, and I could see a hand reaching down to help me. I took it, and my head and shoulders sprang free of the ocean's embrace. I gasped for air and got it, four or five huge breaths bringing my body back to normal functioning, my mind recovering from the panic of nearly being drowned. I got myself under control, instinctively keeping myself afloat by treading water, and I turned to face my mysterious rescuer.

"_Marina_!!" 

It couldn't be! It couldn't be her! I had seen her die! My entire fight was based on avenging her death!

"It's me, Gary, it – it's me."

"Marina…" I sobbed in relief, my hand reaching out to caress her face, feeling her skin: soft, perfect and untainted by death.

My hand moved down to her throat, where she had been shot by the humans, but the skin there was without blemish or scar. How was this possible? Her hand touched mine and she said, "We – we'd better get out of the w – water."

The sharks were on their way back, still following the blood that was leaking from my arm. I could see at least three dreaded dorsal fins moving along the surface of the water towards us. Marina pointed me towards the shore and we began swimming that way as fast as we could. With my larger frame and vastly superior musculature I might have expected to outstrip her easily, but to my surprise Marina was tearing out in front, already yards ahead of me. She turned round when she saw how far back I was, and swam back to my side, "Come on!"

We were moving towards the shore as fast as we could – correction, as fast as_ I_ could – but a glance backwards told me the worst. The sharks were still gaining, and there were a lot more of them now. On the beach up ahead I could see another figure in black, hurrying down to the water's edge to help us climb out.

"Stop! Go back!" I heard the figure yelling.

What? Why do that? I had no intentions of stopping and letting the sharks tear me to pieces. Then I realised. It was the sharks who were being addressed, and who were now responding to the shouted command. On the beach stood Gaia – my mother – using her unique power over animals. The sharks were gone, vanished down to the depths from which they had come, and Marina and I reached the shore unharmed. Gaia helped us out of the water and I collapsed on to the sand, breathing hard, letting my exhausted body rest for the first time in what felt like years, wanting nothing more than to lie down and sleep for a week or more. My mind wouldn't let me. I had to discover the truth. Marina was _alive_, and I had to find out how. She was kneeling over me now, smiling down at me with her usual nervous expression, her hand tentatively reaching to push a strand of hair out of my eyes.

"I don't understand…" I panted weakly. "You're dead…"

"No. A – Annie saved me. She – she healed me."

I closed my eyes, despair washing over me. So Crusader hadn't been lying. She hadn't been lying when she had told me that Marina was still alive, that she had saved my love, that I was acting under an illusion.

"You saved my life…" I gasped.

Marina's tiny, uncertain smile began to widen, "I – I – I love you."

Before I knew what was happening my arms were around her neck and hers around mine, the two of us drawing together to share a passionate kiss. Relief flowed out from both of us, my relief at the impossible delight of finding out she had never died, and her relief at pulling me alive from the shark-infested waters. We broke apart and rested in each other's arms, simply relieved and elated to be together once more when we'd thought that we would never lay eyes on each other again. Marina was alive…how I had wished, imagined, hoped, dreamed and prayed over the last weeks, just to see her, to hold her, to kiss her once more, just _once_ more, just to have five more minutes with my love. And now she was here, holding me, kissing me, loving me – everything I had longed for had just come true. I sobbed tears of relief into her shoulder – then I saw the small silver X embedded into her collar.

"You joined the X-Men…" I said in surprise.

"You – you joined the Brotherhood…"

At that moment it didn't matter. Nothing did. The X-Men, the Brotherhood, the conflict between us, the invasion of the island, in that one perfect moment it didn't matter. Marina was alive – the huge wound in my heart was healed – my life was complete once more – that was all I could think of.

"You're Aqua," I guessed – I had heard the name before, but I had never realised until now who had chosen it.

"Yes, I – I am."

"What are you guys _doing_ here?"

She looked away nervously, "We – we came to find Annie. We need her to cure the Plague."

"I destroyed the cure."

"N – not all of it. And – and there's something we need to tell you, as well."

"What?"

"It – it's – um, I – I – I don't really know to s – say it. I – I'm not very good at t – talking…as you know. I – I'll let Cyclops tell you."

"I thought you'd come here to attack us."

"N – no. We didn't come here to fight. But Pyro was – was ready for us and he started attacking the moment we g – got here. One of the Br…I mean, one of – one of your people can see into the future, r – right?"

"Yeah. Cassandra. She must have foreseen it."

Cassandra. Marina. For the first time since finding her alive, it occurred to me. I had already proclaimed my love to Cassandra and promised to spend the rest of my life with her. It had been an easy decision to make, since Marina was dead. Or at least, so I had thought. But now that I knew she was alive…and I still loved her, there was no doubt about that…what was I to _do_? I couldn't have both of them. Yet I loved both of them. I didn't want to have to choose. I didn't want to upset either of them, and I didn't want to be apart from either of them.

"Marina, I – " I said hesitantly. "There – there's something I've got to tell you…"

"What is it?"

"I – it's like this. You see, I – uh, I mean…no, it's – it's nothing. It doesn't matter. Never mind."

She blinked ingenuously, "OK."

How could I say it to her? How could mere words explain the depths of what I was feeling? How could I tell Marina that I loved Cassandra, when I loved both of them? How could I tell her that I loved her but I was going to spend my life with somebody else? In what way could I tell her without breaking her heart and shattering her fragile emotional state? An ordinary girl without any of Marina's trauma or mental problems would have found it hard enough. For Marina, it would be even worse. I couldn't even begin to imagine what it might do to her. I couldn't do it to her. But at the same time, I couldn't do it to Cassandra either. I loved her. I loved both of them. I wanted to be with both of them forever. But I knew I couldn't.

"Gary?"

It was Gaia. She had been standing by the shore, concentrating on calming the blood-frenzied sharks, and now she hurried towards us.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," I said.

She reached towards me and for a moment I feared attack – she _was_ an X-Man, after all – but her intentions were otherwise. Her maternal instincts took over as she gently ran her hands over my arms, my neck, my back and my face, making sure that I wasn't lying, making sure that I had no injuries. I made no attempts to stop her. Despite everything else, she was still my mother. There was a bond there that nothing could ever break. Gaia was about to say something else, when a buzzing sound came from the communicator on her belt. She grabbed it, "Gaia here."

I recognised Cyclops' voice on the other end, "We've neutralised all of them. We're searching for Annie now; you'd better come and join us."

"On my way."

I looked at her, "Marina said you were here to find Crusader. You're still trying to cure the Plague."

"Of course we are. Gary, I don't know what happened to you, but – somewhere along the line you forgot the most important lesson we ever tried to teach you."

"What?"

"Humans and mutants aren't that different. It isn't a person's genes and physical makeup that defines who they are. It's their personality, their experiences and their feelings that make them unique. You can't just label all humans as being the same."

"That's exactly what they do to us!"

"I know it is. And it's wrong. And that's exactly the reason why we _can't_ do the same. We have to try and teach them about us, to let them know that their prejudices are wrong."

"Our first priority should be to keep ourselves and our children from being hurt," I said. "Humans hate us so much they will try to kill us. Destroying them is the only way to preserve our species."

She sighed, "This is going to be a long argument, and we haven't got time for it now. Let's go and meet the others. We'll talk again later."

"Wait a minute," I said. "If you're here to release Crusader and make another cure, I'm not going to stand by and let it happen. I'll stand in your way and fight you if necessary. You can't deny me what I believe in."

"First listen to what it is we came to tell you. Cyclops will explain, to you and to the rest. I believe that you will come round to our way of thinking once you have heard it."

"I doubt it," I said.

Marina gently, hesitantly took hold of my hand, "Gary, please – please just listen to us. It – it's important."

"All right. For you, I'll listen to whatever it is they want to say."

"Let's go," said Gaia.

The three of us climbed the path from the beach to the sanctuary building, where I found the battle had come to an end. Vertigo was lying unconscious near the sanctuary, while an enraged Gemini struggled furiously to escape from Storm's grasp. Pyro was cornered, defenceless with no means of creating fire, while Wolverine and Nightcrawler watched him closely. Cassandra, still holding on to Acceleratus, crouched nervously close by.

"You see, we did not come here to kill you," Cyclops was saying. "We came here to talk, not to fight."

"Bullshit!" Gemini screamed.

"Where's Gladiator?" Pyro demanded. "You killed _him_!"

"I'm here!" I called.

Cassandra looked up at the sound of my voice, and her expression of desperation and fear turned into a smile of relief and joy. She rose to her feet, forgetting she was supposed to be a prisoner, and hurried across the ground in my direction. The X-Men reacted as one when they saw me, moving into defensive positions; Wolverine extended his claws and began making his way towards me. Cassandra ignored him, threw her arms around me and kissed me passionately. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Marina, her expression changing to one of shock and horror, and I heard Pyro shouting, "Gladiator! Finish them!"

Cassandra let go of me. I saw Gemini, renewing her struggles to escape. I saw Wolverine, approaching at a run, his claws extended towards me. I saw on either side of me the two girls I loved more than anything else in the world. I did not want to fight any more. All I wanted just now was to love them and have their love in return. I raised my hands as a gesture of peace. Wolverine slowed, and then stopped, confusion and suspicion lining his face.

"What the hell are you doing?" Pyro yelled. "I told you to destroy them! Do it!"

"No. I'm not going to fight under an illusion any longer."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"She isn't dead," I replied, indicating Marina with my right hand. "Her death was everything my fight was based on, and I was wrong about it."

Cassandra and Marina looked at each other for the very first time, their gazes locking, then Marina's eyes dropped nervously to the ground. I gestured towards the X-Men with my other hand, "There's something they want to tell us. I don't know what it is, but I'm willing to listen."

"Are you _crazy_?" Gemini shrieked.

"Maybe. I don't know. I don't know what to think. Everything I've based my life around for the last month or so has just changed. It's going to take me a while to get used to it, so…I'm not going to pass judgement on them just now. Let them talk. If we don't like what they have to say, I'm sure I can persuade them to leave."

This last brought a smirk to Pyro's face, and he shrugged, "All right, Cyclops, I'm prepared to hear you out. I won't promise any more than that, though."

"What about Crusader?" asked the leader of the X-Men.

"What about her?"

"We need her."

Pyro smirked, "You can have her. Providing you can convince me of a good reason why I should let you."

Cyclops frowned, but said, "I guess we'll talk about that soon, but there's something else of greater importance."

"What? You've realised we were right all along?"

"No. Of course not. Pyro, you have to help us stop the Plague."

Pyro laughed, "And why would I want to do that?"

"Because if you don't, the Plague will kill you too."

"It can't do that. It only kills humans."

"You're wrong," Cyclops responded. "The virus itself has mutated, John. It's targeting mutants as well as humans now. If you don't stop it, everybody on this island, everybody in the world, will be dead."

"Rubbish!"

"It's not rubbish! I was infected myself until we realised what was going on. If Oculus hadn't healed me I wouldn't be standing here!"

"Are you serious?" Cassandra asked him.

"He doesn't have a sense of humour," Wolverine muttered.

Cassandra looked at me, then at Cyclops again, "Um, what does it feel like? When you first get the virus, I mean?"

"It starts off with acute stomach pains, normally only at a certain time of day. After that it progress to vomiting, joint pain, stiffness, blindness, paralysis, and finally death."

"I've been having stomach pains for the last few days…in the mornings…" Cassandra said fearfully. "I knew it had to be something out of the ordinary. Do you think it's – ?"

Cyclops nodded, "Yes. The virus spreads incredibly fast and over great distances. You probably picked up a mutant-killing strain last time you were on the mainland."

"Can you cure her?" I asked.

Wolverine snapped, "Why the hell should we? It's your own damn fault if it's backfired on you! It's your own creation!"

"Actually, it's not," said Pyro. "It's that psychopath Van Gaarde. The one who created the Horsemen. He created this poison but only intended it to kill mutants. I discovered it when I rescued Gemini from his laboratory. I played around with it for a few years, altering it so it would target humans instead."

"I guess you weren't as careful as you might have been," said Iceman sarcastically.

It was a horrible irony in a way. To think that the mutant race was facing extinction from a virus that we had spread ourselves, a virus that had mutated just like we had. I said to Pyro, "They're right. We have to stop it."

"_If_ they're telling the truth," he countered.

"They are," said Cassandra. "I'm not making this up, Pyro. I don't want to die."

Pyro shrugged, "All right, so what do you want us to do? You're the ones who developed the cure last time – can't you do it again?"

Cyclops shook his head, "It would take too long. There would be nobody left by the time it was ready."

"So, what, we're doomed?"

"No. You thought you destroyed all of the first batch of cure we made, but we think some of it might have survived."

"So where is it? Why don't you go get it instead of hanging around here?"

"Because we don't know where it is. Only Crusader knows."

"Oh, I get it. This is just a convenient way to get me to release your champion. Nice try, but it won't work."

Cassandra lost her patience and screamed, "Pyro, they're not lying! I'm _dying_! Let them have Crusader back! _Please_!"

It all came down to what Pyro cared about more: Cassandra or his own sense of victory over the X-Men. With a growing sense of dread I recalled the words Mystique had spoken: _Pyro doesn't care about anyone other than himself_. We were about to see whether or not that was true. Cassandra said pleadingly, "Don't let me die. You'll get the Plague too if you don't do anything. I've probably passed it on to most of you already. We're all going to die if we don't help them stop the virus."

"I guess you're right," Pyro said finally. "OK. Crusader's yours. This w – "

He was cut off as a knife embedded itself in his throat.

"_Pyro_!!" Gemini shrieked.

She pulled free from Storm and ran to his side. Pyro was on his knees, clutching at his neck, gasping and coughing up blood. Cyclops, myself and most of the rest were looking round to see where the knife had come from. It made no sense. Unless…

Less than a hundred yards away, standing at the edge of the heli-pad, was Recyclo. His grey eyes stared at Pyro's fallen body with a haunting sort of intensity, his hands twitching to form two new blades. He threw them, but two optic blasts from Cyclops melted them in the air. Recyclo turned and hurried into the interior of our jet.

"What the hell is he _doing_?" Cassandra cried.

The jet rose from the pad, turned, and disappeared at top speed into the horizon.

"He doesn't even know how to _fly_ that thing!"

"He must have programmed the auto pilot!" I said. "How's Pyro?"

We turned to look. I couldn't even tell if Pyro was alive. He lay motionless on the floor, blood still leaking from the wound in his neck, Gemini screaming, her eyes flooding with tears. I grabbed Cyclops, "Crusader can heal him! She's in the sanctuary – go in that entrance, second left! You'll have to blast the door open to get her out! Hurry!"

He nodded, and I turned round to see Iceman and a couple of other X-Men running towards their own jet, to pursue Recyclo. Where was he headed for, anyway? Why had he knifed Pyro? Why had he run off? It didn't make any sense. None of it made any sense. I heard an explosion from inside the sanctuary and a moment later Cyclops emerged, supporting a thin, pale, weak-looking Crusader. He directed her towards Pyro, and she knelt by his side, putting her hand on his skin, letting her healing power pass into his body. I just hoped there was enough of Pyro left to revive. A shape appeared in the corner of my eye, and Iceman hurried past to grab Cyclops.

"We have another problem," he said quickly.

"What?"

"He's left a bomb on the other jet."

"Can you disarm it?"

"I don't even want to touch it. I've never seen something so complex. The only thing I can recognise is the LED timer display."

Cyclops sagged, "How long?"

"We've got about five minutes before it explodes, taking out everyone and everything on the island."


	7. Fragile Alliance

Chapter Six

"What are we gonna do?" asked Iceman.

"We can still get out on the helicopter," I said.

"No, we'd never fit all of us in there," said Cyclops. "Bobby, can't you just freeze the bomb?"

"I don't know what a sudden drop in temperature might do to it. I can't take the risk."

"Let me see it."

I hurried after them as they ran up into the interior of the second jet. Shock and Helios were already there, and they looked up as we arrived.

"It's counting down," Shock said nervously.

The timer display read three minutes thirty seconds.

"Any ideas?" I asked them.

Cyclops turned to Helios, "Dominic, get Kurt in here. Gary, go and check on Pyro."

I had already hurried from their jet and across the ground towards the sanctuary before I realised I had just obeyed his order unquestioningly. Part of me felt angry, the part that still hated the X-Men – Cyclops wasn't my leader and had no place telling me what to do – but at the same time, part of me knew that it would be stupid to argue with him just for the sake of it. I cast it out of my mind as I approached the group near the sanctuary. I feared the worst when I saw the tears still pouring from Gemini's eyes, but then I saw Pyro was sitting up, and I realised they were tears of joy. She had her arms around him and she rested her head against his chest, allowing her relief to overtake her. For a moment Pyro hesitated, then he slid his arm around her shoulders. Gemini hugged him a little tighter and gave him a little kiss on the cheek. Anyone who hadn't known them would have presumed instantly that they were father and daughter. They even looked something alike. I knew that in Gemini's heart Pyro _was_ her father, but I wasn't so sure he thought of her that way. I remembered what Mystique had said about him. I turned my attention to Crusader, who lay unconscious beside them, and I asked, "Is she OK?"

Rogue, who was kneeling over my sister, nodded, "She's just tired. She'll be fine."

"Good."

I turned and hurried back to the jet to see what was happening. When I got there Nightcrawler was in the process of manhandling the bomb down the landing ramp. It looked pretty heavy.

"Pyro's OK," I told them. "What are you guys doing?"

"I will teleport this as far out to sea as I can," he said.

As I watched he looked out towards the horizon, then with that very distinctive sound he teleported away from the island. My long-range vision was good, though not _quite_ as good as my sister's, and I could just about see him appearing on the horizon to the east. He was only there for a second, and I made out the distant shape of the explosive dropping into the ocean. A second later Nightcrawler reappeared in front of us.

"Ten seconds," said Helios, glancing at his watch.

I counted down in my head and we all felt the force of the explosion when it came, shaking the earth on which we stood, flinging countless gallons of sea water into the air in all directions from the centre of the blast. I braced myself and managed to keep my footing as the reverberations peaked, then slowed, then ceased.

"Everybody OK?" Cyclops asked.

Nobody said anything to suggest otherwise, and he turned to me. For a moment I wondered why, then I realised. With Pyro still recovering from his injury, Vertigo knocked out and Recyclo gone, he was looking to me as the Brotherhood's most senior figure.

"All right," he said. "Now perhaps you could tell me what that was all about. I thought he was one of your people. Why did he just try to kill Pyro? Why did he leave a bomb to destroy you along with us?"

I looked blankly at him, shrugging helplessly, "If I knew I'd tell you. It doesn't make any sense at all."

"He's my brother," said Helios, shaking his head in disbelief. "I can't believe it. I can't believe that he just tried to kill us."

"Your brother?" one of the X-Men asked him.

"Yeah. I met him that time the Brotherhood came to the mansion looking for Pyro. He's my twin; we must have been separated at birth. I never knew he even existed until then. I've no idea where he was or what happened to him."

"Pyro knows," I said.

Then another thought occurred to me. I asked Cyclops, "How did you know to come here? Was it a lucky guess or – ?"

"No. We received an anonymous communication about an hour ago, telling us the co-ordinates of your base. We never guessed you might be operating from Magneto's island. I guess it was just too obvious."

About an hour ago…who could have sent a communication an hour ago? There was no way to send anything from the island – Pyro had banned anyone except himself from using the computers to prevent any more information leaking out – and the others had been with me the whole time. None of them could have sent anything. Unless…of course. Recyclo had been left alone using one of the computers in Van Gaarde's research lab. That had been about an hour ago, hadn't it? Had he sent the message to the X-Men? Was he the one who was giving them information? Was he the traitor? 

If so, it didn't make any sense at all. Recyclo hated the X-Men even more than Gemini did, and I wouldn't have thought that possible. He had just tried to kill them. Why would he be giving away our position to them? Why would he be helping them in their attempts to kill us? What other reason could he have for letting the X-Men know where we would be? Unless…could it be the other way around? Could he have been giving away our position so that they could confront us, so that _we_ could kill _them_? Had he been trying to draw the X-Men towards us to give himself an opportunity to kill them? Did he hate them enough to deliberately engineer something like that? I didn't know. I didn't know anything about him or his past. Only Pyro knew. Cyclops was already making his way over towards our leader, and I followed him.

Pyro, supported by Gemini, was just rising to his feet, looking a little dizzy and disoriented from the amount of blood he had lost. He swayed a little and she steadied him. Gemini glared at Cyclops as he approached, and she began holding on to Pyro a little tighter. Pyro blinked and his eyes focused on Cyclops.

"What do you want?" he asked, instinctively putting a protective arm around Gemini.

"I want to know why that guy just tried to kill us."

"What are you talking about?"

"He means Recyclo," I said. "He knifed you then fled on one of the jets, He left a bomb on the other one, but Kurt – I mean Nightcrawler – managed to get rid of it."

"Recyclo tried to kill him?" a shocked Gemini asked. "But _why_?"

Pyro frowned, then said, "It must have been because I had just agreed to release Crusader. He must have thought I was giving in to the X-Men, maybe even agreeing to a truce with them. He doesn't like them very much," he finished sarcastically.

"But why try to _kill_ you?" Gemini demanded. "After everything you've done for him!"

"Because Recyclo is insane," Pyro sighed. "I've known for years, I've always known. I never told any of you because I thought I could keep him under control. I guess I was wrong."

"But what's wrong with him? Why is he like that? What happened to him?"

Pyro looked at her, "The same thing that happened to you. Recyclo too was kept in a research laboratory and used as a test subject. The difference was that you were taken when you were eight and I rescued you when you were ten. In other words, you were only there for two years. Recyclo was stolen from his foster family when he was three years old. I didn't discover and rescue him until he was thirteen, by which time his mind was warped and distorted beyond any possible repair."

Storm shook her head angrily, "In that case he should have been given therapy, not used as a weapon! Pyro, you're using these children, using them to further your own ends without caring one jot what it does to them or their mental stability!"

Pyro sneered, "If you aren't willing to help them, somebody has to. He'd probably still be in that laboratory if I'd left it up to you."

"Shut up, both of you," Cyclops interrupted. "We don't have time to argue. There's too much at stake. We've got to find the Plague cure and we've got to find out where Recyclo is going. He could kill a lot of people if his mind is as unstable as you say."

"Don't forget the Horsemen," I said.

"Right. We think we might know what it is they're trying to do. Oculus – I mean your father – has been using Cerebro to try and locate them. We think we know where they're based."

"Do go on," Pyro said dryly. "And don't forget I still haven't agreed to this alliance that you seem to think is in place."

"You might change your mind when you hear what Oculus found out."

"Oh, the suspense is killing me. _Do_ tell."

"I'd rather wait until everyone has regained consciousness, and speak to all of them. We should let them rest somewhere. Do you have an infirmary?"

"No."

"Well, let's get them inside at any rate."

I sat at the side of the bed and looked down at the still sleeping form of Crusader. There was still turmoil in my mind. I couldn't decide on my feelings for her. I couldn't decide what I was going to say to her when she woke up. Did I still hate her? Was she still my enemy? Did she still hate me? Had she ever done so? My emotions were all mixed up, a crazy concoction of anger, guilt, forgiveness and sorrow. She hadn't been lying when she had told me Marina was still alive. I knew that now. She had been telling the truth and I had refused to believe her. We had done battle when we shouldn't have, and I had caused her extreme pain and terrible injury when perhaps I should not have. Was it fate that we had ended up on opposing sides? Was it unavoidable? Or was one of us, or both of us, to blame?

I glanced across to the other bed. Vertigo still lay motionless, with Gemini standing over him. She had managed to let go of Pyro for a few minutes to come and see how her friend was doing. She saw me looking at her and gave me a smile. I returned it, then returned my attention to Crusader. This bedroom was Vertigo and Recyclo's – Vertigo's now – and the bed she was lying in had been Recyclo's. I still didn't know what to make of him. Pyro had helped explain it to an extent, but I couldn't and had never been able to fathom the grey-eyed psychopath who had tried to kill us all. Why had he joined the Brotherhood anyway if he didn't care for Pyro or the rest of us at all? Had he only wanted to take the opportunity to kill the humans who had hurt him, and the X-Men who protected them? I knew that was Gemini's reason for belonging to Pyro's group – well, one of her reasons. But Recyclo – I had the feeling that nobody, not even Pyro, knew what truly lay within his heart. Was he irredeemably deranged, as Pyro had suggested? Had his psyche been damaged beyond any recovery by years of mental anguish? Gemini had suffered that way for two years and it was painfully obvious what it had done to her. Recyclo had had it five times as long – I could only imagine the mess his mind was in.

Gemini gave a little gasp as Vertigo began to stir. His hand twitched, he gave a low groan, then his eyes slowly opened.

"Hey," Gemini greeted him.

He blinked, "Wow. If I get to see a beautiful girl every time I wake up, maybe I should get knocked out more often."

She blushed, "You OK?"

"Yeah. Have I been out long? Did I miss anything?"

"Nah, not much. Just that the Plague has mutated to kill mutants, Recyclo tried to kill us, and we're allied with the X-Men."

His eyes widened, then he slipped back into his usual I-don't-care expression, "Right. Just a normal day at the office, then."

"Pretty much. I – " she hesitated.

"What?"  
She looked away uncertainly, "I'm just confused about my feelings, that's all. My feelings for Pyro…my feelings for – for you…my feelings for the X-Men…"

"I thought you hated them."

"I do – I did – maybe I still do. But – but they saved Pyro's life when they could have just let him die. Everything I know about them would have led me to believe they'd just have let him die. But they didn't. Maybe – I can't believe I'm saying this – maybe they're not the monsters I thought they were. I never thought I'd ever hear myself saying that, but they saved Pyro's life. You have no idea how much that means to me."

"You like him?"

"I _love _him. No, not like _that_. It's like he's my dad. Or at least I'd like him to be."

"You said something about me…"

Gemini blushed once more, "I'll – I'll talk about that when we're alone."

"Alone?"

He looked over and saw me sitting beside the other bed. Surprise crossed his face and I raised my eyebrows, asking, "Still alive?"

"Just about," Vertigo said. "Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

"Not today."

"So just how do you survive falling from a hundred foot cliff into Shark Central?"

"I can't tell you, I'm too modest. No, seriously, one of the X-Men saved my life."

"You're kidding. Which one?"

"Aqua."

"Who's that then?"

"Her real name is Marina. She's the girl I thought was dead. She's the one I joined the Brotherhood to avenge. She's not dead after all."

Gemini frowned, "I thought you said you saw her die."

"I did. Well, I saw her receive a fatal injury. I forgot that my sister can heal people."

"Does that mean you're leaving the Brotherhood?"

"No – well, I don't know really. I don't know what to think or what to do. I need time to sort it all out."

"So what does this mean for you and Cassie?" she asked. "If you still love this Marina girl, are you still going out with Cassie?"

"I don't know that either. That's one of the things I really need to sort out in my mind. I love both of them and I – no, I'd rather not talk about it."

"OK. But I think Cassie – "

She was interrupted by a groan from the bed beside me. I looked over to see Crusader stirring, her hands moving slightly, then her eyes snapping open. She focused on me and fear crossed her face. She said apprehensively, "Gary…

"It's all right, I'm not gonna hurt you. It'll take me a while to explain what's going on – so maybe you should just read my mind."

"OK…"

She closed her eyes and concentrated, then a few moments later they opened again. A smile of relief crossed my sister's face, "So you met Marina at last."

"I did. Listen, Crusader – "

"Call me Annie."

" – I wish – I just wish we'd never had to fight. I – I'm sorry. That's all I can say right now."

__

You mean until we're alone, her telepathic voice came into my mind. I nodded, then I said a little awkwardly, "Are you feeling all right?"

"I'm really hungry…"

We hadn't been feeding her, instead relying on her healing power to keep her alive.

"I'm sorry," I said again. "I'll get you something."

"No, I'll do it," said Gemini. "I feel like I owe her something. She was the one who saved Pyro's life."

"Thank you," said my sister.

"No. Thank _you_. You've done something that I'll never be able to repay you for. You don't know what it means to me."

"Actually I do."

"Telepaths are cheats," Vertigo yawned.

I turned to Crusader – to Annie – once more, "Cyclops wants to talk to everyone once you're all recovered. Can you walk? Are you strong enough?"

"Once I've had something to eat I will be."

After Gemini had left the room, Vertigo looked over at us, "So you two are brother and sister, huh?"

We nodded.

"And also mortal enemies," he added. "That's gotta suck."

My sister and I looked at each other, and I voiced our thoughts, "We're not so sure about the enemies bit any more."

At that, Vertigo's expression became serious. He raised an eyebrow and said, "They're still the enemy, Gladiator. The situation is a little bit weird just now, but it doesn't change anything. They're still the enemy. Don't ever forget that."

Testing his legs to see if they would support him, he stood and headed for the exit. For the first time since we had met in our duel of fate, Crusader and I found ourselves alone together. Her small, gentle hand found its way inside mine, and she smiled, "I'm glad we don't have to fight each other any more. I'm glad we're on the same side this time."

"Me too. Cyclops mentioned something about the Horsemen; he reckoned that Oculus - I mean Dad - has worked out what it is they're trying to do."

"The Horsemen…those would be the mutants who attacked the mansion not so long ago?"

"That's them. We were trying to do the same thing, to work out what it was they wanted, to decide whether they posed a threat to mutant life. We had no idea if they were going to be friends or enemies. We were worried they might even join up with the - with your people."

Annie shook her head, "No - they wouldn't do that."

"How do you know?"

"Because when they invaded the mansion I was able to read their minds - well, two of them. The other two - I don't know what it was, but - there was something not right. I couldn't sense their minds at all."

"Why not?"

"I told you, I don't know."

"Which two couldn't you sense?"

"I don't know their names - the one who looked like a skeleton, and the one with the chalk white skin who had a cloak covering his body."

"That sounds like Famine and Death. Maybe – maybe they can shield themselves from your telepathy," I suggested.

"No. If that was the case, I'd still be able to sense _some_thing. I'd know there was something blocking my psychic power. When I was a little girl Dad used to help me practice my telepathy, and he taught me how to shield my mind from him. I know what it feels like when somebody else is doing it."

"And they definitely weren't?"

"No. It was as if there was nothing there at all. It was really strange - it was as if they weren't even alive."

Her words triggered a memory somewhere in my subconscious, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I asked her, "So what did you sense in the two minds you were able to read?"

"I'm not sure. A lot of it was confusing. It was kind of…distorted. I'll try to explain. When I read a person's mind - let's say yours - I can sense information in different ways, depending on how deep I go. If I probe just inside the surface of your mind, all I get are vague images and emotions - basically whatever you're thinking about and feeling at that time. If I go in a little deeper, I can sense thought processes and start to put a sequence to the images. I can distinguish whether you're imagining or remembering something. I can start to work out _why_ you're feeling the way you are."

"Right," I said. "I think I follow so far. You're saying that if I'm feeling angry or something, you can sense it on the surface, but you have to go a little deeper to find out the cause of it."

"Yes. Maybe it's something that happened, something that someone said, or something that might happen in the future. Anyway, if I go in deeper still, I can access more of your mind. I can sense everything in your short term memory. I can tell if you're hungry, hot or cold, if you're in pain, and what your plans are for the immediate future. I can sense anything that is worrying you. For example, I can tell just now that you're worried over your feelings for Marina and this Cassandra girl."

"Yeah…"

"Anyway, after that there is one more level I can reach, if I concentrate hard enough. Once I've reached it, I can access anything in your mind. Anything you've ever seen, heard, thought about, imagined, or planned. And, if I chose to do so, I could alter it. I could make you think, say or do anything I wanted."

She must have sensed the fear in my mind, and she smiled, "Relax. I'd never do it to you. I don't have the right to do it to anybody. I could have used it to convince you to leave the Brotherhood and come back to the mansion, but I didn't."

"Fair enough," I said, my fears calmed but not entirely quenched. "You were going to say something about the Horsemen?"

"Oh, yeah. OK, the whole point of that lecture on telepathy was to tell you one thing: information is stored and processed in our brain by tiny electrical impulses which - "

"I know that."

"Right. Part of my telepathic power is knowing how to decode those impulses to tell me what's in a person's mind. When I tried to read the minds of the Horsemen - or the two I could sense, at any rate - I could barely decode their electric signals at all. It was like - well, like nothing I'd ever experienced before. I learned enough to know that they aren't going to become our friends any time soon, but…I can't really explain it in words. It felt almost like - like I was trying to decode electronic signals from a machine, or something. That doesn't make any sense, but - "

"Actually it might," I said.

She raised her eyebrows, "What do you mean?"

"We - uh - we went to the laboratory where the Horsemen's creator works. He had a bunch of machines in the basement that allowed him to control the Horsemen. The four of them have got some kind of electronic implant devices in their brains. It allows Van Gaarde - that's the scientist who created them - to monitor all sorts of information about them, and to upload instructions into their minds."

"I see…"

"We think they were under his control when they went to the mansion."

"So you think I was sensing the signals from these electronic devices?"

"Could be. But the Horsemen have stopped responding to the implants. Effectively they've gone rogue, and Van Gaarde doesn't know why. That's why Pyro wanted us to find out their plans. If they're acting under their own volition for the first time, there's no way of predicting what they might do."

Annie looked thoughtful, "They stopped responding to their implant devices…I wonder if I had something to do with that."

"How?"

"My telepathic intrusion into their brains might have disrupted the signals they were getting from the implants. When I use my telepathy I'm projecting electrical impulses into the subject's brain, so there's a good chance it would have mixed up the devices."

"I guess it makes sense."

"And it means that if they _are_ doing something threatening, it's partly my fault. I have a responsibility to stop them from hurting anybody. Gary, I - "

She was cut off as Gemini came back into the room.

"Where's Vertigo?" she asked.

I shrugged. Annie said, "He's with Pyro."

"OK. Here you go."

"Thanks."

Gemini was carrying some snacks and a can of juice, probably the first things she had come to in the fridge, and she placed them on the bed beside Annie. Then she hurried to the door to go and find Vertigo, or Pyro, or possibly both. Annie pushed her duvet aside and moved into a sitting position to make it easier to eat. She still moved a little painfully and she still looked pale and weak. I put a hand on her shoulder to steady her, and she gave me a smile.

"You don't look good. Can't you heal?" I said.

"I can, but it's not a substitute for eating. I haven't had any food for days and my body's getting weaker and weaker. When that happens my healing becomes less and less effective. Another few days and I wouldn't have survived."

"I'm sorry," I said. "For what it's worth, I was never happy about sealing you up in there. It was just - well, it was the only way we could make sure you wouldn't harm us. We want to protect mutants and the - and your people keep trying to get in our way."

Annie was too busy eating to talk, but her mind spoke into mine, _Gary, nobody is trying to stop you protecting mutants_._ We just happen to think there are better ways of doing it than eradicating the entire human race_.

"Annie, humans are never going to accept us."

__

Not while people like Pyro and Magneto are around and trying to kill them. That's why the X-Men exist, to show humans that some of us are prepared to share the world with them. To educate them about us.

"While all the time humans are hurting and killing baby mutants."

__

Our other duty is to raise mutant children and teach them how to use their powers responsibly, so they can protect themselves and those younger than them. Your way - Pyro's way - isn't going to solve anything. Even if you do kill every human on the planet, it doesn't mean the world's mutants can live in peace. We already have our differences. We already fight amongst ourselves. Different factions already exist. Things would only get worse. Wars would begin and thousands would be killed. It's inevitable. When humans first became the dominant species on Earth, the same thing happened to them. We'd be no different. Baby mutants would be no safer then than they are now.

"You can't know that for sure!"

__

Besides, you can't kill off the human race that easily. It's possible for two mutants to have a child that doesn't have any mutant powers, a child that is simply human. Would you kill your own child if you and Marina, or you and Cassandra had one without any powers?

"Of - of course I wouldn't. I'd love my child no matter what it was."

Before Crusader could respond, the door was pushed open and Gemini's head appeared in the doorway, "They want to talk to us now."

She disappeared once more and I stood, offering my hand to Annie, "Can you stand on your own? Do you need any help?"

"I feel stronger, but hold on to me just in case."

"Sure."

I helped her stand, and supported her as we walked out into the corridor.

"They're in the briefing room," she said.

We went that way, and found the rest of the X-Men and the Brotherhood waiting for us.

"Glad to see you two are brother and sister again," said Shock, smiling when she saw us entering the room together, Annie's hand in mine, my other hand around her shoulder, helping her balance.

Pyro didn't look quite so pleased but he didn't say anything, merely folding his arms and glancing at Cyclops, making his impatience clear. Vertigo and Gemini stood together, with little Acceleratus hiding behind them; the child was clearly still scared of the X-Men. Helios stood alone, his arms folded and his concentration obviously elsewhere. I knew it wasn't going to be easy for him to come to terms with what his brother had just done, or tried to do at any rate.

"All right," said Cyclops. "Now we're all here, I can begin. As I've already mentioned to some of you, Oculus has been using Cerebro to try and track the Horsemen and find out what it is they want. While he'll never be able to master the device in the way the Professor could, we think he has done enough to give us an idea of the Horsemen's plans."

"Where is Oculus?" Pyro asked suspiciously. "Why isn't he here to tell us himself?"

"He's back at the mansion, watching over the children. Now, we know – and I suspect you also know – that the Apocalypse mutants have been attacking army bunkers and stealing equipment. We've been trying to compile a list of what has been taken, in the hope that it will give us some idea what they intend to do."

"And?"

"We think they're building a weapon. A weapon so terrible and destructive that it could eradicate all life on the planet."


	8. Aqua Marina

Chapter Seven

 "Perhaps you could go into a little more detail," said Pyro sarcastically.

 "Fine. We know they've accumulated all the parts needed to construct both an intercontinental missile and a launching platform. All that they need now is some sort of payload for the warhead – a logical assumption would be some chemical or biological agent, or possibly a nuclear device. If that's the case, this missile would have such devastating results that the entire world could be at risk if it were ever used."

 "So what's their objective?"

 "We can only assume that once their weapon is completed they will announce its presence to the world, and threaten to use it unless their demands are met."

 "And their demands would be what, exactly?"

 "We don't know. Our intention is to stop this missile from ever reaching firing capability, so it doesn't really matter."

Crusader put in, "I tried to read their minds at the mansion, but I couldn't find out anything that might let us know their goals."

 "So what do you intend to do about it?" Pyro asked.

Cyclops replied, "There are five different military facilities where the Horsemen could try to steal a chemical or nuclear weapon for their missile. As you'd expect, all five are under heavy military protection - but as we've already seen, that probably won't stop the Horsemen. My intention is for us to split up into five parties and keep watch at each of these facilities."

 "Who is 'us', exactly?"

 "We can't afford to fight on two fronts, Pyro, and neither can you. We have a mutual – and very dangerous – enemy in the Horsemen. I'm proposing an alliance for the duration of the threat they pose. Once we've neutralised them, we – well, I guess we can decide where to go from there."

 "How do I know we can trust you?"

 "We might as well ask the same question of you," Wolverine retorted.

 "True, but it's your idea. OK, here's what I'll do. Show me the evidence you've got that they're building this missile. If it pans out, I'll consider an alliance."

Crusader caught my eye, and smiled at me. A little uncertainly I smiled back.

 "I guess that's the best we could have hoped for," Cyclops responded. "You'll have to come back to the mansion to see the evidence, of course."

 "All right, but Gladiator and Cassandra are coming with me. If you people intend to stab me in the back at any point, I'd rather have them by my side."

 "Fine. We have no intentions of betraying you. Get anything you need and get ready to go; we can't waste any time."

 I hadn't been expecting ever to return to the mansion, especially not at the invitation of our enemies, and that wasn't the only thing that was bothering me as the jet descended from the clouds into the open hangar below. Cassandra sat beside me, keeping close, still uncertain of the X-Men's proposal of an alliance. She didn't trust them and she wanted to stay near me for protection. My thoughts, however, were centred entirely elsewhere. I still couldn't believe Marina was alive; it still felt like I was going to wake up at any moment and find out she was gone after all. Since her death – her supposed death – I'd had countless dreams in which I had discovered she had survived, in which all of my anxieties and sorrows were abated and I could be happy for ever and ever. I had to keep convincing myself that this _wasn't_ a dream; that it was real. Part of me couldn't bear to let her out of my sight; in a way I was afraid that she might disappear forever if I lost sight of her for just one second. She was so precious to me, so delicate, so vulnerable – so _fragile_. Marina needed protecting, and I was the one to do it. Of course, I knew I mustn't take it too far – she was a living, breathing person, not a china doll – but I was so afraid that it might happen again: that she might be attacked, and this time Crusader might not be there to heal her. I was naturally afraid for Marina's safety. I knew she had her own powers and could use them to protect herself, but still…I felt it was the duty of every man to defend the woman – or women – he loved. It was an instinct. I knew I would do anything to protect her, and could never ever harm her. Aqua was still one of the X-Men, and I was still with the Brotherhood, but some things went above that. For that reason I hoped that Pyro would agree to this alliance. I didn't want to be apart from Marina.

 Right now she sat a little distance away, looking sadly at the floor. She hadn't spoken a word since she had seen Cassandra kissing me, and it had clearly been a shock for her. I felt guilty in a way; Marina was suffering great psychological anguish and I had promised that I loved her. Now I felt as if I had broken that promise. It wasn't as if I could claim that I had fallen in love with Cassandra after I had thought Marina was dead. It had happened before that. How could I have fallen in love with one girl almost immediately after doing the same thing with another? Surely that wasn't right. I sighed. I didn't know what to make of it. Love was a madness; nobody had ever been able to fully understand how it worked. I knew I wasn't going to be the one who finally unravelled its mysteries. All I knew was that I loved both of them, but I couldn't be with both of them. Somewhere along the line I would have to choose.

 "I called Oculus," came Shapeshifter's voice from the controls. "He's still recovering from using Cerebro, so he won't be able to tell us anything right away."

Pyro sighed impatiently, "So there really wasn't any point getting back here quickly."

 "We can still show you the military storage records we illegally downloaded to find out what had been stolen."

 "Yeah, we were trying to do the same thing," I said. "Well, Recyclo was."

Cyclops frowned, "If Recyclo found out the same things we did – if he knows what the Horsemen are trying to do – I'm not happy with the thought of him playing some unknown part in this."

 "There's only one of him," Iceman pointed out. "How dangerous can he be?"

 "We can't underestimate him."

Once we had landed, we left the jet and they led us into their underground base. They were obviously taking Pyro to wherever they had the information stored, and I was following him when I felt a gentle hand on my arm. I turned. Marina looked away from me nervously and said, "Gary, I – I need to t – talk to you."

 "Right now?"

 "Yes. I – I – "

I guessed she wanted us to be alone. The rest had gone on ahead of us, only Cassandra remaining at my side. I looked at her, "Um, why don't you go on ahead? I'll catch you up."

Cassandra looked at Marina suspiciously, then said, "Fine. Be quick about it."

I sensed she wasn't pleased, but I didn't have any time to think about it as she hurried away to join Pyro. Marina and I were alone in the corridor just outside the aircraft hangar and she was looking unhappily at the floor, still not sure of herself.

 "So…" I prompted her.

She looked up, "I – I just want to – I just want to know where I stand. That's – that's all. Just – just tell me if our relationship has – has changed."

 "Changed?"

 "You and – and that girl…"

 "Cassandra."

 "Do you love her?"

Her eyes looked directly into mine, and for once she didn't drop her gaze and look elsewhere. I stared into her eyes, losing myself in those twin depths of magical emerald. It was a sight I had never thought I would see again, a sight my heart and mind had craved for what felt like eternity. I could see in Marina's eyes how badly she wanted to know that I still loved her; how fervently she was hoping that I would tell her Cassandra was only my friend, that there was nothing between us.

 "I love _you," I told her, my hand gently caressing her cheek._

 "That – that doesn't…" she swallowed nervously, then found new confidence from somewhere. "Gary, you – you promised me that you wanted to love me and – and help me get over my trauma. You – you can't then turn around and tell me that – that you've fallen in love with somebody else."

 "I know…"

 "So t – tell me the truth."

I had to. I had no choice. I could lie or be selective about the truth in order not to hurt her feelings, but it wouldn't do any good. She could always get Annie to read my mind. It would hurt Marina even more to know that I had lied to her. I stepped closer, took her hands and sighed, "OK, Marina, I won't lie to you. I _do_ love you. But I love Cassandra too."

 "You can't – you can't love both of us."

 "I can't, but I do. I'm still confused about it, about everything. I thought you were dead and I've only just found out that I was wrong. My mind's all in a turmoil and nothing's making any sense right now."

 "Are – are you sure that you love me? Are you – are you sure you don't just feel s – sorry for me?"

 "No!" I protested, holding her hands tighter. "If I thought you were pitiful I wouldn't want to spend any time with you. I love you and you know that."

 "Gary, I – "

 "Marina?" came a voice from our right.

It was Shapeshifter, her adoptive father. He looked at me a little warily and said, "We noticed you two were missing, and I just wanted to make sure you weren't hurting her."

 "I wasn't."

 "Make sure you don't. Come on, Marina."

She obediently went to his side, and he indicated that she go on to join the others. She went; I made as if to follow her, but Shapeshifter stood in my way.

 "What do you want?" I said.

 "Just to warn you. I don't care what you try to do to the rest of us, but if you dare to harm Marina –_ ever – I swear I'll make you so sorry you'll wish you'd never been born."_

His eyes met mine in a challenging stare, and I folded my arms, "I've got no intention of harming her. I love her."

 "Don't – just don't!" he snapped angrily. "You have no idea what my daughter is going through. I won't have you confessing your love to her then changing your mind on a whim and leaving her heart torn open. Stay away from her. I'm warning you."

 "I think you'll find she likes me too."

 "And I think _you'll find I know Marina a lot better than you do. The last thing she needs is to have you messing up her already fragile emotional state. Maybe you think it's all right to have a short-term relationship with a girl without ever getting too serious about her – in Marina's case that is _not_ all right. Her mental health has been improving steadily over the last week or so – I am _not_ going to let you set her back."_

 "You can't tell me what to do," I said defiantly. "You're not my father."

 "I'm Marina's. And I'm telling you again: _stay away_ from my daughter. "

Before I could retort further he turned and walked away from me, back in the direction he had just come, to wherever the others were. I was not afraid of his warning or his threats. He couldn't stop me being with Marina if that was what she and I wanted. At the same, however, his words had struck a nerve. He was right about one thing. Marina's mind _was_ in a fragile state, and it wouldn't help to have me messing it up even more. I knew I loved her – at least, I thought I did – but I knew Shapeshifter was right. If I wasn't 100% serious about loving Marina, if I wasn't interested in a stable long-term relationship with her, then I should get out of her life right now.

 He had turned the corner up ahead and I went that way too. I _was_ supposed to be acting as Pyro's bodyguard, so I decided I really ought to find out where he was. Just as Shapeshifter reached a door on the left, Pyro emerged, calling to me, "Gladiator? Over here."

 "What's up?" I said, hurrying towards him.

 "Their evidence seems like the real deal. Where were you?"

 "Exchanging pleasantries," I said sarcastically, glancing at Shapeshifter.

That man's hard, angry look did not change.

 "So have you made a decision?" I asked Pyro. "About the alliance?"

 "I'm leaning towards it. I want to see what Oculus – what your father found out as well. I'm told he'll recover soon."

 "What do we do until then?"

 "Wait, I guess, and enjoy the hospitality of our splendid hosts."

There were some empty dormitory rooms upstairs, and we were shown to one of these while we waited. Cassandra sat on one of the beds and watched me a little uncertainly. Pyro appeared to be inspecting one corner of the room.

 "This is my old room," he said suddenly. "From when I used to live here. I recognise the burn marks from when I accidentally set fire to Iceman's bed. I can't believe it was so long ago. It feels like just yesterday, although so much has happened since then. That was back before – "

He stopped, and a pained look appeared on his face for a second, before he forced his normal expression back into place.

 "Are you…remembering your friend?" said Cassandra hesitantly.

 "Huh?"

 "Your friend Jacqueline. You told us about her…"

 "Did I? Oh yeah, I did. Yeah, I was just remembering when – when she was alive – "

Pyro turned away, but not before we caught the glimpse of a single tear dropping from his eye. He grabbed the door handle and pulled it open, his voice shaking, "I'm going – out. I'll – just – "

He was gone, the door closing behind him, and Cassandra and I looked at each other. Neither of us wanted to say anything. It didn't feel right to be talking about Pyro behind his back this way. His memories were clearly tearing him apart. Eventually she broke the silence, "So what did that girl want?"

 "Her name's Marina."

 "Huh? I thought you said Marina was dead."

 "Yeah, I – I thought so too."

 "She was the one you loved?"

 "Uh, yeah."

Cassandra raised her eyebrows, "This doesn't change anything, right? I mean, we're still going to get married?"

I swallowed nervously, "I don't know what I'm going to do now. I can't promise anything."

 "Are you serious? You promised to marry me, Gladiator. You can't suddenly decide you love somebody else instead, not once you've committed yourself."

 "I know, but it isn't as simple as that. You see, I thought she was dead and now that I – "

 "No! It _is as simple as that! If you loved her, you should never have agreed to marry me! If you love me, it shouldn't make a difference whether she's alive or dead!"_

 "I know, I know, you're right. Logically that makes sense, but I can't control the way I feel about people. I still love you, but – well, I told her the truth so I have to tell you too – I love Marina as well."

Cassandra was angry, "Well, I'm not prepared to marry somebody whose heart is somewhere else! If you had any respect for me you'd have told me about her long before now!"

 "I thought it wouldn't matter! I thought she was dead!"

 "Well, she isn't! So you'd better decide who it is you really care about! Because at the moment, it doesn't look like it's your supposed fiancée!"

Before I could do anything else she had left the room, slamming the door behind her, and I was alone. I sank down on to one of the beds and sighed deeply. I had to get this sorted out. I couldn't keep messing the two of them around like this. I needed some help and advice from somewhere, but who from? The answer, when it came to me, was surprisingly obvious.

 I found her along the corridor in her own bedroom. Nudging open the door, I found her locked in an embrace with her mother - our mother - the two of them sharing their relief at being together again.

 "I didn't know if I would ever see you again," Gaia was saying softly, holding Crusader tightly to her. "When you were captured by the Brotherhood, all I felt was guilt; guilt that I had allowed my only daughter to risk her life when you were still a child. And after we had already lost Gary…"

 "Mum, he's behind you."

Gaia let go of Crusader and turned around to face me.

 "I don't understand you, Gary," my mother said. "Why did you join the Brotherhood? What was it that made you change? Your father and I tried to bring you up to believe in the same things we do - where did we go wrong?"

 "I suppose you never really explained why we should care what happens to the humans. I still don't understand why you people want to go out of your way to help those who hate us."

 "As I said before, in many ways they're really no different from us. They simply fear what they don't understand. They feel threatened by mutants with powers that could cause harm if used irresponsibly."

 "I still don't see why - "

 "My own parents were humans, Gary. Your grandparents, though they died before you were born. I was raised and loved by humans - I can't ever do anything to hurt them."

 "OK, I understand that. Maybe some humans _do_ deserve to live. But you can't deny some of them will never accept us, and will seek to hurt us in any way they can."

 "Yes, and those are the ones we have to protect ourselves from. But they have as much of a right to life as we do. We aren't better than them. We're just different. If we show them that we're willing to live in peace, maybe they'll realise and do the same thing."

Her head turned slightly as if she had just heard something, "Your father's coming round. He just telepathed to me. I have to go to him. I'll talk to you later."

Gaia hurried from the room, leaving Crusader and me together. My sister smiled, "You're starting to understand, Gary. You're starting to learn why human life is important."

 "Annie, I need you to read my mind," I told her.

 "What for?"

I sighed, "There's so much I'm confused about, but most of all it's over Cassandra and Marina. Both of them are hurt because they feel I've betrayed them. I can't go on loving both of them, but I _do love both of them. I need you to read my mind and tell me what I should do."_

 "Gary, I can't tell you how to lead your life. I can give you advice based on what _I feel, but…you have to make up your own mind. I don't know Cassandra so I can't advise you regarding her."_

 "What about Marina?"

She sighed, "I know Shapeshifter has already told you this, but you have to be aware what kind of state Marina is in. If you do decide to be with her, I can warn you it isn't going to be easy for you. Marina might one day recover from her trauma, but there's no guarantee. It will take a lot of time, a lot of patience, and a lot of love on your part. If you think she's worth it, then by all means ask her to be with you. If you don't think you can devote yourself to somebody that deeply, then you'd be best to leave her alone."

 "I know, but I promised her that I _would_ stay by her side and help her get over it."

 "You made promises to both of them."

 "Yeah, I did," I sighed. "Annie, what should I do?"

 "It's not for me to tell you. I _can go inside your mind a little and try to help clear up some of your confusion so you can think more clearly. But not right now."_

 "Why, what's up?"

 "We still have to find the cure to the Plague, remember? I've just been told it's killing mutants as well as humans, so I presume you won't be standing in our way any longer. Too many people have died already."

I knew that only too well. While part of me didn't care – they were only human, their lives didn't matter – another part of me was agreeing with Crusader. At the moment I was uncertain which part was more prominent. 

 "So where is it?" I said. "Somebody said you had hidden the last sample of the vaccine."

 "I did. I left it in the care of a human doctor. His intention was to begin distributing it immediately, but seemingly that never happened. From what we can tell, word leaked out about the cure, and the government took possession of it. Clearly they haven't started issuing it to the public, and we need to find out why. We think they've handed it over to one of their top scientists to study further. Perhaps they don't realise how desperate the Plague situation is. We need to get the cure back, by force if necessary. Hopefully it won't come to that. Dad should be fully recovered by the time I get back."

 "You're going alone?"

 "I have to. Everybody else is going to be concentrating on the Horsemen. I'm hoping to be inconspicuous by going alone."

 "Let me come with you."

Annie looked surprised, "What?"

 "It's my fault that the last vaccine was destroyed. If you need help getting this sample back, then I want to do something to make up for my previous actions."

 "So you're starting to regret using the Plague on the humans?"

 "I didn't say that. I - let's just say I'm not really sure about anything any more."

 "Well, you'd better get ready. I'm going to leave any moment."

 She headed for the door, and I said, "Annie?"

My sister turned, "Yes?"

 "What if we can't find the vaccine?"

 "Then every person on the Earth, human and mutant alike, will be dead within two weeks."

I closed my eyes and sighed, "And all of it will be my fault."


	9. The Search for the Cure

Chapter Eight

As the jet settled into a gentle easy landing, Crusader lifted her hands from the controls and I looked at her, "I didn't know you could fly one of these things."

"Shapeshifter taught me. I'm a fast learner."

"Obviously. So where are we, exactly?"

"We're at the hospital where I left the cure sample. I'm not expecting it to still be here, but hopefully we can find some clue as to where it is now."

"Lead the way."

Annie shook her head, "Gary, I want you to stay here. The jet's cloaking field should keep it safe from detection but just in case, I want you here to keep an eye on things. I won't be long."

"OK. Take care."

My sister smiled. She hit the control for the embarkation ramp, and waited until it had fully descended.

"Telepath to me if you need help," I said.

"I shouldn't come across anything I can't handle, but I will feel better knowing you're backing me up. Gary, I – " she hesitated, then her smile reappeared. " – I'm just happy that we're on the same side at last. This is the way it should be."

"Yeah. I hope it lasts."

"Me too. See you soon."

She hurried down the ramp and I watched from the view-port as she made her way to the hospital building a hundred yards or so away. As I watched, I knew I was looking at the most powerful mutant in the world – but whether it was Annie, or my own reflection in the view-port, I couldn't tell. I'd conquered her in our only battle to date, but now it seemed she had been holding back from using the true extent of her mind powers. Why? I couldn't understand it. I had always believed in using my powers to their full potential whenever I needed them. Annie on the other hand had always been the one who held back from using her real strength. Whether it was through some sense of moral duty, or due to a lack of confidence in herself, I didn't know. What if Crusader _had_ unleashed her full telepathic might and tried to control my mind from her own? Would the outcome have been different?

I sat back in the co-pilot's seat and tried to calm the maelstrom of thoughts swirling around in my mind. I had to concentrate on what was important: finding the cure, then stopping the Horsemen from completing their weapon of world devastation. Once that was done, things would have calmed down sufficiently for me to make some decisions. My entire future would depend on what those decisions turned out to be. To stay with the Brotherhood or come back to my family. To fight for the humans or the mutants. To love Cassandra or Marina. The answer to all of those questions was simple: in each case I wanted to do both. But unfortunately it didn't look as if 'both' was an acceptable answer to any of them. In each case it seemed I had to choose one or the other. And whichever choices I made, I was guaranteed to make people I cared about very unhappy indeed.

How long I was lost in my thoughts, I had no idea, but the next thing I knew Crusader had returned.

"Did you find it?" I asked.

She sat down in the pilot's seat and shook her head, "No, it's long gone from here. I was right in my suspicions though: it _has_ been taken by a government research team. I'm not sure exactly what their intentions are, but it doesn't look as if they're going to start distributing it amongst the general populace any time soon."

"So where is it? We have to go and get it. Where are they holding it?"

"I have no idea. The doctor I spoke to couldn't tell me anything other than the name of the head researcher. Our next step is obviously to find this researcher, but I don't know where to start looking. I could try to use Cerebro, but I haven't got enough experience to control the device properly. Dad could do it, but not until he's recovered."

I frowned, "We have to do something, Annie."

"I know. Any ideas? The researcher's name is Van Gaarde. Does it mean anything to you?"

My eyes widened, and Crusader obviously sensed my thoughts. She looked over, "You know him?"

"We've met," I said sarcastically. "But we're not exactly on speaking terms."

"You know where we can find him?"

"Yeah. He's got a research lab in New York. That's where we – uh – where we tracked the Horsemen from."

I forced any thoughts of Mystique out of my mind before Crusader could read them. I didn't know why, but I felt I should keep Mystique a secret for now. If she didn't want Pyro to know she was still alive, it was a reasonable assumption she didn't want the X-Men to know either. It seemed Annie was unaware of my hidden thoughts; she was too busy controlling the jet. We took off and headed for Van Gaarde's lab.

As I stood outside the tall glass-fronted building once more, it was in stark contrast to the last time I had been here. So much had happened in the space of a day, even though it was now after midnight and we were technically into a second day. I began heading for the front entrance, but Annie put her hand on my arm, "Wait."

"What?"

"I'm not sure. I can sense something – something odd. There's a military security force inside the building. They must be protecting the vaccine."

"Or maybe they've upped security after my little intrusion last time I was here."

Annie's brow creased in confusion, "That's not all. There's something strange in there as well."

"What?"

"I don't know. I can't tell. Something terrible. I can't really pin it down. I could just be imagining it, but…I dunno…"

"Come on, we can't waste any time. We have to get inside and find the cure. Let's go."

"But – "

"If there's anything dangerous in there, I think we can stand up to it together. Come on!"

"Wait a minute!"

She held my arm, scanning the building with her eyes. At first I wondered why – there was nothing to see – then I remembered Annie's X-ray vision. She had to be looking through the walls, seeing what was inside.

"OK, there are military personnel on the bottom three floors. We don't want to go in that way."

"Why not? They can't hurt us. Together we could annihilate them within seconds!"

"Yes. But we're not going to. There's an easier way."

I looked at her dubiously, "What is it?"

"Take my hand."

"Why?"

"Gary, just do it."

Feeling a little foolish, I held my sister's hand then sighed impatiently, "All right, now what – whoa…!"

Annie had her other hand raised slightly, using her telekinesis to levitate the two of us into the air. I looked down and swallowed a little nervously as I saw the ground moving further and further away below me. She lifted us higher and higher, and I began to grow more and more unhappy. It wasn't that I was afraid of heights – I just didn't particularly like being suspended over one with only my sister's enigmatic mental powers to keep me there. At any moment she could drop me to my death, or lose concentration and drop both of us. I didn't like this. I didn't like having my life resting entirely in another person's hands. It wasn't that I didn't trust Annie; I just liked to be wholly in command of my own situation. Nor did I like relying on something I knew so little about and couldn't understand, in this case her telekinetic force. It was with some relief that I found myself finally being lifted over the top of the building, and gently deposited on the roof. I held on to Annie's hand tightly for a second or two, letting my fears and my heartbeat calm down, then I let go and tried to appear unperturbed, "So what now?"

"We have to find this researcher Van Gaarde. Where will he be keeping the vaccine?"

"His office is on the tenth floor. We can probably find some clues there."

"Let's go."

We found a staircase that led down inside the building, and once there we headed for the lifts. It was certainly different, and quite a relief, to be able to rely on Annie's mind powers to let us know when we were about to run into somebody. Stealth was so much easier when one was telepathic. With a grudging respect, I had to admit that Annie's idea had been best. If I had followed my own plan, I'd still be fighting the soldiers down on the bottom levels, no doubt sounding the alarm to warn Van Gaarde. 

We had just stepped into the elevator when Annie's head jerked up, "I can feel it again."

"Feel what again?"

"That – thing. That strange entity, whatever it is. It's human, at least I think it is. Could be a mutant. It's in terrible pain."

"Maybe Van Gaarde has a new research specimen."

"What do you mean?"

"Gemini. Van Gaarde used her as a lab rat for two whole years when she was a little girl."

"That's awful," said Annie, shocked.

"Of course it is," I said, then added with sarcasm. "Some humans aren't very nice to mutants."

"We've never tried to deny that. Now be quiet, we're there."

The lift doors opened and we stepped out on to the tenth floor.

"His office is down this way," I said, pointing to the left.

But Annie wasn't listening. She had spotted something in the corner and was walking over to investigate. I followed her. My eyes widened in surprise when I saw what my sister was kneeling beside. A body, clearly human, lay sprawled in the shadows, blood encrusted around a wound in its neck, its face frozen in an endless scream of terror.

"What happened?" I asked.

Annie shook her head, "I have no idea. He must have died suddenly – and clearly very horribly. Something terrible happened here, but I can't – "

"Let's just find Van Gaarde," I interrupted. "We can come back and worry about this once we have the vaccine."

"Gary, how can you be so uncaring? This person's _dead_. Don't you feel anything for him?"

"He's only human. Come _on_."

Still lost in thought, Annie allowed herself to be pulled to her feet, and I led her down the corridor that would take us to Van Gaarde's office. Halfway down, we found another body. This one was a woman, curled in a foetal position against the wall, a huge gash in her throat, lying in a pool of her own blood. 

"This blood's _warm_," Annie hissed. "Whatever did this – it must still be here."

"The Horsemen?"

"No. They'd never have been able to sneak in past the guards downstairs. It must be something else. Something – or someone – else must have found a way inside the building."

I wasn't so sure. This certainly looked like the work of the Horsemen. Pestilence, with his long raking claws, could have inflicted these wounds easily. But why would the Horsemen come here? Were they trying to find out about themselves, why and how they had been created? Were they seeking revenge against Van Gaarde for what he might have done to them? Annie was right in saying that the Apocalypse mutants couldn't have got in here without alerting the soldiers down below…unless it wasn't all of them. Perhaps they had sent Pestilence out alone. He could climb walls. Some adhesive substance secreted by the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet enabled him to grip any surface with ease. He could have climbed to the top of the building and got in via the roof, much the same way Crusader and I had done. Could there be another explanation? Mystique, perhaps? No, that wouldn't make any sense. She wouldn't go around murdering these humans for no good reason. I didn't know her terribly well, but I knew that much.

"There's got to be an explanation for this," Annie said. "I'll go to Van Gaarde's office and see what I can find. Gary, there must be some way we can access the building's security system: alarms and cameras and suchlike. Try to find it, and try to find out what happened here."

"Can't you sense who did this?"

"I can sense something, but it's very erratic. It's this strange being I've been sensing every since we got here. I'm assuming he or she is responsible for this, but there's something not right about their mental signature. It's all mixed up and it's impossible for me to pin down."

"So it could be one of the Horsemen. You said you had trouble reading their minds."

"True…anyway, see what you can find out. Meet me in his office."

It took me a few minutes to find a security station. There was nobody inside, but my eyes lit instantly on the banks of monitors showing live feed from security cameras around the building. I walked over to take a closer look. The images were not of particularly good quality, but I didn't have too much trouble working out what they showed. Each screen was labelled with its camera's location, and I began to get a pattern of what was going on. On the upper floors there were more dead bodies, cut open and covered in blood. On the bottom three floors the soldiers were still on guard, and they appeared to be calm and unthreatened. One camera showed a moving figure, but it was Annie, working on bypassing the electronic lock on Van Gaarde's office door. As I watched she met with success, pushing the door open and stepping inside.

I found one screen that showed footage from the outside of the building, and turned my attention to it. If, as I suspected, Pestilence had got into the building by climbing the outside wall, this camera might have captured him on film. If I could only find some way to view the images it had recorded from earlier. Experimenting with the controls for a minute or two, I found a rewind-replay capability and began looking through the previous footage of the exterior camera. I saw Annie and I making our somewhat unconventional entrance, then nearly an hour further back I found something else. Setting the monitor to play at normal speed, I leaned forward to watch intently.

In the shadows near the corner of the facility, a shape appeared. Looking in all directions, presumably checking the coast was clear, it then hurried towards the building and planted both hands on the wall. As I watched, the figure reached up for two more handholds, then began to climb. Moving slowly but steadily, the dark shape that could only be the insectoid Pestilence ascended higher and higher, clearly aiming for the roof. I turned away. I knew what I needed to know. It was time to find Annie and see about locating the cure.

Another dead human lay sprawled outside Van Gaarde's office. Trying to remain unaffected, I stepped over the dead body and pushed open the door which Crusader had left ajar. The scene inside the office was just as macabre as the corridor outside. Two blood-spattered figures lay on the floor, and Annie was checking them over to see if either might still be alive. The first was barely recognisable as human, such was the level of hacking and gruesome dismembering that had gone on. Blood, bones and body parts were scattered about in a horrific spectacle of brutality.

"I think this was Van Gaarde," I said, swallowing hard to keep the bile from rising in my throat. "Annie, listen. I found a security room and I watched some of the cameras. I was right. Pestilence of the Horsemen is the one who did this. He must still be here."

She frowned, "But what's he come for? What does he want?"

"Revenge, maybe. I'm more concerned about where the other three might be. What if – ?"

I was interrupted as Annie gasped in surprise, "This one's still alive!"

I knelt by her side in front of the second figure. It was a woman, also bloodied and butchered from various wounds, but she was still clinging on to life, if only by the narrowest of threads. Her chest rose and fell, just barely, and Annie immediately did what she could, placing her hands on the woman's heart and closing her eyes as she called on her healing power. I was doubtful if it would even work, given the woman's injuries, but eventually her wounds began to close, her breathing grew stronger, and a relieved smile crossed Annie's face as she realised the woman was going to survive. I smiled too, happy because Annie was, never thinking I would have been so pleased to see a human survive. Annie had obviously been reading my mind, and she said, "Gary, she isn't human."

"What?"

The woman gasped as she regained consciousness, and her eyes jerked open. She blinked dizzily, still faint and weak from the blood she had lost. For a moment her eyes flashed yellow, then returned to their ordinary colour.

"Mystique!" I exclaimed.

She looked at me, "Gladiator? I thought I was – how did you heal me?"

"My sister did. Look, I don't have time to explain. What happened here? Who did this?"

Before Mystique could reply, all three of us heard a sound from outside the room. I looked up apprehensively, expecting the hissing, spitting insectoid to come charging through the doorway at any moment. I stood, my fists clenched, ready to protect my sister at all costs. Five seconds passed, then ten, and nothing had happened. I looked at the two women, "You both heard that too, didn't you?"

They nodded. Confusion lined Annie's face, "He's close – Pestilence – he's here somewhere, but I can't pin him down."

"I'll check outside the office," I said. "Annie, see if she knows where the vaccine is."

I opened the door and glanced into the corridor outside. There was nothing, only the two dead humans who had been there before. I knew I hadn't imagined the sound – Annie had heard it as well – but there was nothing here now. I took a step outside, closing the door behind me, and listened hard for anything that might indicate an imminent threat. There was nothing. I advanced a little further up the corridor, my muscles tensing instinctively, ready for battle. If Pestilence was here alone, this was an ideal opportunity to finish off one of the Horsemen. It would make stopping them a whole lot easier if…

Movement registered in the corner of my eye as a dark shape flashed out of the office door I was passing. Something slashed at my throat, and I reacted as fast as I could to duck out of the way. I tried to rally, swinging a punch at the figure and seeing him sweep effortlessly to the side, reacting by stabbing towards my throat again. I kicked him aside, and took up a defensive position, expecting a mouthful of acid to be aimed at my face any second. I had to keep Pestilence at a distance; I couldn't afford to get too close to those claws.

I realised my mistake a second too late. In a split second it occurred to me that I had fatally overlooked one rogue factor in this increasingly complex equation. I had automatically assumed that I was fighting Pestilence. After all, who else could climb walls and slice open people's throats virtually at will? I had forgotten somebody. Maybe I just wasn't used to the idea of that person being an enemy. As he stepped into the light I could see the haunting intensity and murderous intent once more in his normally emotionless grey eyes. In the enclosed space of the corridor I didn't have a hope of avoiding his next attack. Recyclo's blade moved almost fluidly across the yard or so between us, piercing my throat, blood exploding outwards in all directions.

A/N: if you want to see this updated, leave a review. There's no point in my uploading if nobody is interested. 


	10. Killer Unbound

Chapter Nine

Crusader's telekinetic blast hit Recyclo just as his other hand opened to form a second blade. He was thrown down the corridor away from me, and I was vaguely aware of light footsteps running towards me. My body was weak, sluggish and unresponsive, and I knew I was dying. It was only my incredible strength that was keeping me alive these last few seconds. I must have instinctively moved my hands to the gaping wound in my throat, as I could feel the blood seeping between my fingers. I tried to breathe but nothing happened – my windpipe must have been severed.

I felt a hand touching my neck and I could hear Annie's voice, soft and gentle, in my ear, "It's OK, Gary – you're OK."

I could feel the power surging from her hand into my body, and I realised she was healing me. For a second or two I felt dizzy and light-headed, then I managed to clear my mind and take control. I put my hand to my neck. The wound was gone, and my skin felt as if it had never been ruptured. I found I was breathing easily – it was as if there had never been any attack. Shaking my head to clear away the last of the dizziness, I looked up. Crusader was already advancing on Recyclo, her arm out as she tried to get a telekinetic lock on him, to hold him still. He threw a blade at her, but her other hand came up to deflect it away harmlessly. I got to my feet, swaying a little, putting a hand out to steady myself against the wall, and then followed her.

"It doesn't have to be like this," Annie was saying to him. "I know you're in pain. You don't have to do this. I can help you."

"I don't want your help! I don't need anyone's help!" Recyclo hissed.

"I know the damage that's been done to your mind. I know how much you have suffered. I can make it easier for you."

I wasn't telepathic but even I could tell that she wasn't going to convince him. Recyclo's grey eyes flashed with bloodlust and insanity, and he hurled another blade at my sister. This time she didn't even need to raise her hand; she blinked her eyes and the knife dropped to the floor.

"You can't kill me," she said. "It's time to stop killing."

"I will never stop killing!"

Recyclo raised both hands and from his palms came forth a white gas, filling the confined space of the corridor between him and my sister. Taken by surprise and delayed by uncertainty, Crusader reacted too late. The gas swarmed through the air towards her, and she shrieked with agony as it surrounded her. I saw her falling to her knees, screaming in pain, and I hurried forward to help her. The gas was around me now and I felt it stinging at my eyes and the back of my throat. Tear gas! My immunity to pain helped me ignore it, but I could only imagine the pain it was causing to Annie's ultra-sensitive eyes. She was curled on the floor, her hands over her face, sobbing uncontrollably as the gas attacked her senses. Recyclo was walking through the gas cloud towards her, either unfeeling or ignoring the effects of the gas himself. He raised a blade in one hand, and prepared to bring it down into the back of her head.

A jet of fire from my throat was enough to discourage him, and he jumped back to avoid the licking flames. I stood over Annie's trembling, agonised form, my fists clenched, ready to defend my sister. Recyclo backed away, his hands opening as he prepared to form new blades. I was too quick for him, and a right-fisted punch forced him to bring up both hands to form a metallic shield. He tried to rally, but I was too fast, kicking him into the wall. I was fighting with a furious frenzy now, along with an overpowering determination to protect Annie. I knew I loved my sister as much as I loved anybody, and right now I saw her as the most precious thing on the planet. An incredible feeling of love was flowing through my veins – I guessed her healing had something to do with it – and right now I wasn't going to let anything harm her.

Recyclo, however, wasn't going to give up easily. Before I knew it he was back on his feet, thrusting a half-formed blade towards my throat. I grabbed his wrist and used my superior strength to twist until he dropped the knife. With my left hand I threw a punch at his jaw, but he managed to block with another shield and the two of us broke apart, facing each other once more. The cloud of gas had dissipated and Annie was on her knees, her hands still covering her eyes, still crying and recovering from the torturous pain. I kept my attention on my opponent.

"To think I once called you friend," I spat.

"I was never your friend," Recyclo shot back. "I don't need any friends and I never have."

"Then why did you join the Brotherhood?"

"To kill. Until Pyro took that away from me. Then I had to kill _him_."

"He isn't dead."

"He soon will be."

I shook my head, "You won't catch him by surprise like that again. He's too smart for that."

"No, I didn't mean by my own hand. Something with a touch more inevitability."

"You mean the Plague?"

"No, not that either. It's – "

Annie shrieked, "Gary, look out!"

Recyclo's talking had put me off my guard, and I barely reacted in time as his arm flashed through the air, flicking another blade at my face. Throwing myself to the ground, I heard the blade thudding into the wall where I had just been standing, and I reacted in the only way I could think of, exhaling another column of flame in his direction. He dodged to the side and I got to my feet. Annie was hurrying towards us, and Recyclo's head snapped round to face her. He was trapped between the two of us. My sister was already lifting her hand to try and get a telekinetic lock, while I filled my lungs and prepared to flame him once more. Recyclo took the only option available to him, kicking open the door of the office nearest to him, and ducking inside. Annie and I ran to the doorway and got there at the same instant. There came the sound of glass smashing as Recyclo broke open the only window inside the office. He turned to hurl a blade in our direction, causing both of us to duck instinctively, then he kicked the rest of the window frame to the side and jumped out.

My sister and I hurried to the window and looked down. I wasn't entirely sure what I was expecting to see, but I doubted Recyclo would have deliberately thrown himself to his death. I could hardly make out a thing in the darkness outside, but Annie squinted downwards and said, "He's slowing down his fall somehow…"

Of course. I had seen him do it before. He was using his power to create some kind of lighter-than-air gas, possibly helium, enabling him to descend slowly and safely.

"Come on, we've got to go after him!" I said, grabbing her arm. "Use your power to get us down there! We've got to get him!"

She concentrated for a moment then sighed, "I've already lost him. I just can't get a telepathic lock on him at all. His mind's completely warped and destroyed. You know I have trouble reading Marina's mind because it's all messed up inside – but hers looks ordinary and tidy compared to his."

I stared into the darkness outside, but I could see no trace of our fleeing enemy. It was a pointless exercise anyway. If Annie couldn't find him, I certainly couldn't.

"So what do we do now?" I asked.

"Let's check on that woman."

I was half-expecting Mystique to have disappeared when we returned to Van Gaarde's office, but she was still there, sitting on the floor, clearly still recovering from the loss of blood. She had morphed back into her true form, and she looked up as we entered.

"Are you OK?" I asked her.

She nodded, and I marvelled once again at the healing power of my sister. When we had first got here Mystique's body had looked so savagely attacked that it was a miracle she was alive at all. And yet here she was, as good as new…almost. Perhaps Annie's healing wasn't as effective as I thought, for a wound had remained on Mystique's figure. Three identical slashes on her abdomen had clearly not been restored, but that was little cause for complaint considering she ought to be dead. I suspected it wasn't the first time she had cheated death.

"What happened with Recyclo?" she asked.

"He got away," I said.

Her eyes widened, "_What_?"

"Hey, we tried our best. He was just too fast for us at the end. I know there were two of us and one of him, but…"

"No, that isn't what I meant. He's got the antidote!"

Annie looked at her in horror, "Are you serious?"

"What?" I asked.

"Recyclo's got the vaccine! It _was_ here!"

Mystique nodded, "I've been keeping an eye on it ever since it was brought here. I know the Plague has begun to attack mutants as well as humans. My intention was to send the antidote to Pyro at the first opportunity. Unfortunately Recyclo came here before that opportunity arose."

"What happened?"

"He just went crazy. It was terrifying. He was just attacking everything, anything that moved. I think he came here for Van Gaarde. I tried to defend myself but he was fighting on a different level tonight."

"Why did he want to kill Van Gaarde?" asked Annie.

"For revenge, of course. For the way he had been treated as a child."

"Of course," I said. "Pyro told us that Recyclo had been kept in a laboratory. He never mentioned anything about Van Gaarde, though."

"I expect because Recyclo never told him."

"But what does he want the antidote for?" I asked.

"To stop us from using it," said Annie. "We have to go after him. There's no other choice. _Damn_ it! Now I wish I hadn't let him go so easily just now!"

"What if – " I began, when something on Annie's person began buzzing.

She reached to her belt for a communicator, and switched it on, "Crusader here."

"We need your help," came a voice from the other end – it sounded like Storm. "The Horsemen are moving faster than we anticipated, and your father still hasn't recovered. Get to us as soon as you can. I'm transmitting co-ordinates."

"Got them. We're on our way."

She switched off the communicator and turned to me, "Come on, we'd better hurry."

"What about Recyclo and the vaccine?" I demanded.

Mystique had got to her feet and she replied, "I'll handle that. I can follow him no matter how well he tries to hide his tracks. Once he stops somewhere I'll let you know."

"What if he tries to kill you again?"

"He'll fail. He caught me by surprise this time. At first I thought Pyro must have sent him and I assumed he wouldn't try to attack me. I won't be so careless next time."

"All right. Good luck."

"Likewise."

She headed for the door and was gone.


	11. The Apocalypse is Near

Chapter Ten

Once we were back in the jet, Crusader quickly prepared for take-off and I asked her, "So where exactly are we going?"

"According to Storm the Horsemen are heading for an army bunker on the coast. She gave me the co-ordinates."

"What are they trying to do?"

"They're looking for a massively destructive payload for their missile, remember? This is one of the bunkers where the US military stores its nuclear and chemical weapons – all the things the public aren't supposed to know about. The Horsemen must be planning to steal one of them, or at least part of one of them."

"Won't it be guarded pretty heavily?"

Annie said, "We've both fought the Horsemen before, Gary. We both know human weapons aren't going to hurt them. The only thing that can stop them is other mutants, in this case ourselves."

I sighed, "And we still don't know what powers all of them have. I know Famine is a power-stealer like Rogue. I know Pestilence can jump, climb walls and spit acid – like Toad in some ways. And I know War is just a gigantic killing machine, but I don't know anything about Death. I've only seen him use his power once, and only from a distance."

"I haven't seen him use it," she admitted. "When we fought them at the mansion, he stayed at the back and let the others do the fighting. He must have some way of protecting himself, though. He took a full-power optic ray from Cyclops without even flinching. It was almost as if – "

"Almost as if what?"

"I dunno – as if there was nothing there to kill. As if Death – well – isn't even alive."

"What? A robot?"

"Something like that. It would explain why I can't read his mind. But it doesn't make any sense. He doesn't act or look like a robot. And besides, modern technology is still years away from that kind of automation in robots. Even advanced research isn't there yet."

"So…what is he?" I asked.

"I don't know. What I'd really like is to get a look at Van Gaarde's research notes. That could tell us a lot."

"Mystique already did that."

"And?"

"And…now that I think about it, she _did_ find out something weird about Death. There was some kind of accident in the lab, and two of the Horsemen were killed. Death was one; I think Famine was the other. But that doesn't make any sense because we've both seen them perfectly alive and well since then."

Annie frowned, "Those are the two whose minds I can't read, or even sense at all. There must be a connection."

"Someone suggested they'd be cloned," I added. "That seemed the only sensible explanation."

My sister shook her head, "If they'd been cloned recently, they'd only be babies. Cloning isn't simply replicating a person's body. It means growing a new person out of somebody's DNA."

"So they weren't cloned?"

"No. How did they die?"

"I think Mystique mentioned a radiation leak."

"Radiation leak…" she said thoughtfully. "You said you saw Death using his power once. What happened?"

I tried to remember, "I don't know for sure. I watched him grabbing a soldier around the throat and – well, killing him. Somehow. I don't know how he did it. The human's body sort of…decayed. I can't really explain it any better than that. I assume it was his power, whatever that is. I can't make any sense out of it. Can you?"

"Not really. I have the beginnings of an idea in my mind somewhere, but I can't really pin it down. There has to be a connection between these things: the radiation leak; his power; and the fact I can't sense him."

"But what is it?"

"I don't know. Maybe we'll have a better idea when we confront them. Hang on, we're nearly there."

Ahead I could see the blue of the Atlantic Ocean. Somewhere down below had to be the military compound the Horsemen were aiming for, the one we were seeking to protect. Annie was busy programming Storm's co-ordinates into the jet's navigation computer, and changed course slightly to aim for them. As the jet descended and the ground below came up to meet us, Annie looked at me, "I can sense some of the other X-Men. They must be there already. And Pyro is there too. The rest should get here soon."

"So the Horsemen haven't arrived yet?"

"I can't tell. I can't really sense their minds, remember. Hang on, we're coming into land."

I strapped myself into the co-pilot's chair as the jet began to dip, heading for the ground. We were coming down a little faster than I might have liked, but speed was of the essence. Annie flicked a switch to activate the cloaking field; that would hopefully keep us hidden from sight or radar. I reflexively gripped my chair a little tighter as the aircraft performed a very fast vertical landing on a flat piece of ground. In the distance I saw the fence surrounding the military compound, and further off I could see the sparkling blue of the Atlantic Ocean.

"Let's go," said Annie.

I followed her outside and we hurried across the open ground to the edge of the compound. The ten-foot high chain link fence blocked our way. I made as if to tear it apart, but Annie's hand on my arm stopped me.

"Don't touch it; it's electrified," she said. "And something's wrong."

"What?"

"Our friends are around the other side – I can sense their minds – but something isn't right."

"Are they all right?"

"I don't know. They're alive, obviously, or I wouldn't be able to feel their presence. I think they're unconscious."

"The Horsemen?"

"They must be here. Come on!" 

She grabbed my hand and levitated the two of us into the air and over the electrified fence. This time I was slightly more prepared for the sensation of floating on air, and I felt a little more comfortable with the experience. Annie put us down gently on the other side, and we began hurrying towards the main building that dominated the compound. According to her telepathy, Pyro and however many X-Men were here, were on the other side. I found myself instinctively moving to run slightly ahead of Annie, to protect her from any danger that might suddenly appear. If I had stopped to think about it, I might have wondered at the sudden change in my attitude towards my sister. Less than a week ago we had been mortal enemies and had come within inches of killing each other in our duel of fate. Now we were together, fighting on the same side, ready to risk our lives to protect each other – as a brother and sister should be. Individually we were powerful enough, but together we were an even greater dual force, Annie's mind powers perfectly complementing my physical abilities. I knew that Annie was powerful enough to protect herself from any potential danger, but I still felt as if I had a duty to defend her. Maybe it was one of those in-built instincts that drove men to protect those who were smaller and physically weaker than themselves.

Our worst fears were confirmed when we finally rounded the side of the building: a number of figures in black were lying motionless on the ground. Annie hurried over to the nearest one, and knelt beside the unmoving body. As I got closer, I saw it was Storm.

"Is she OK?" I asked.

"I don't know," said Annie, a frown crossing her face. "She's alive – but she's not in good shape. Check the others."

I moved over to the next figure. Lying on his side, his cigarette lighter still clutched in his hand, Pyro was not moving. His skin looked pale and his breathing was weak and shallow. I reached towards his neck to find his pulse, hoping it would not be too weak. Before my hand could touch his skin, I felt something, almost as if an invisible fist had just closed on my palm.

"Don't touch him!" Annie warned, and I turned to face her.

Her hand was out and it was her telekinetic power that was keeping me from touching Pyro.

"He's irradiated. All of them are," she said.

"He's what?"

"They're suffering radiation poisoning. They must have come into contact with some radioactive substance. You can't touch them."

I glanced at the other figures on the ground nearby. Cyclops and Wolverine were easily recognisable, and I guessed the other two figures were Iceman and Rogue.

"Will they be OK?" I asked.

Annie hesitated, "I don't know, Gary, I really don't know."

"Can't you heal them?"

"Ordinarily I would say yes. My healing power can theoretically cure anything," she said, then pointed to Wolverine. "But if Logan can't heal himself of this, there's no guarantee I can either. I might make things worse if I try."

"What are you going to do?"

"I have to move them somewhere safe. I'm going to get them back to the jet. You go inside the base and look for the Horsemen. They must still be here, otherwise we'd have seen them leave. They'll be trying to find a payload for their warhead. You have to stop them, whatever it takes. They cannot be allowed to hold the world to ransom with the threat of a weapon of mass destruction. I'll join you as soon I can."

A thought occurred to me, "This irradiation of their bodies – that was Death, wasn't it? That's his mutation?"

"Yes, it must be. It must have some connection with the radiation leak at the laboratory. It must have granted him some sort of radioactive power."

"But I saw him irradiating a human and it died instantly. Why hasn't it done the same to - uh, our friends?"

"I don't know. Maybe Death felt he didn't have enough time to use his full power. Maybe mutants are more resistant to it. We can think about it in more depth later. Go. We can't waste any more time. Be careful. And don't get yourself killed. I love you, brother."

"I…I love you too – sister."

There were a thousand and one other things I wanted to say to Annie, but there was no time. I turned away from her and hurried towards the entrance of the bunker. Immediately I was greeted by at least four or five doors, all leading in different directions. I had no idea which way the Horsemen might have gone, until I noticed that one of the doors had been torn from its hinges and bent in half. That looked like the work of the mammoth War. I wasted no time in running through the doorway, hoping they had left a similar trail to mark the rest of their path. I couldn't afford to be running aimlessly around the base looking for them. I only hoped they weren't already on their way out by another route.

Another mutilated door at the end of the next corridor kept me on their path. I wondered for a moment whether I might run into any humans. This _was_ a human facility, after all, and we hadn't seen any of them yet. Perhaps the X-Men had warned them of the Horsemen's intentions, and they had evacuated. Up ahead I saw further evidence of our enemies' progress. A door that appeared to be electronically sealed had clearly proved too strong, and a hole had instead been bulldozed through the wall beside it. I approached cautiously, uncertain exactly how far ahead of me my foes might be. Peering cautiously through the gap, I saw nothing, and stepped through. Immediately I was greeted by a sound I recognised all too well: the hissing of the insectoid Pestilence. I tensed myself, ready to dodge his attack – but nothing happened. Turning to my left, I could see Pestilence ahead, standing in his usual half-crouched posture, but facing away from me and clearly unaware of my presence. I decided it would be best to keep things that way. I could probably have defeated him in battle, but I didn't have time for it right now. I had bigger fish to fry. Maybe it was time to give this stealth lark a try. I activated my camouflage and, keeping as quiet as I could, I tried to sneak past him.

I heard War's huge lumbering footsteps before I caught my first sight of him. He squeezed awkwardly through the low doorway ahead of me, to face Pestilence.

"We – go – soon," the giant said, stumbling over his words as if speech was largely unknown to him.

Pestilence's face twisted into a sneer, and he replied in his strange cackling voice, "There's no hurry. Nobody can stop us. Even those other mutants can't stand in our way."

War blinked, as if struggling to understand the words, then he simply repeated, "We – go – soon."

"Oh, never mind. I forgot you can't understand words of more than one syllable."

"Huh?" grunted the giant.

I had taken advantage of their conversation to try and sneak past. As I neared the doorway, Pestilence's head jerked up and his cackling voice resumed, "I thought I heard something."

"Huh?"

"Oh, shut up."

I was past them now, and hurrying the way I had just seen War approach from. This led me down another corridor, which ended at a fork. I went left, but eventually found myself in a kitchen of some sort. I doubted this was where I would find what the Horsemen were here for. I was beginning to panic. War had said they were leaving soon, so they must have found what they were seeking. My only hope was to intercept them before they left. Could I take them alone? My confidence was eroding. If we were right about Death, if he did have some power to irradiate others – it would certainly explain what I had seen him do to that soldier – then it was clearly not safe for me to touch any part of his body. That didn't leave me many options. I could use my flamethrower attack, but would that be enough to kill Death, bearing in mind I had Famine, War and Pestilence to contend with at the same time? I didn't know. If only Annie were here. I hadn't argued with her intentions; I knew that saving the lives of her friends – our friends – was the most important thing, but I was beginning to wish more and more that I had my sister by my side.

Retracing my steps and taking the right hand fork this time, I hurried along as quickly and quietly as I could. I tried to stop the worries engulfing my heart. Things were already bad, but they could progressively worse? What if I couldn't stop the Horsemen getting away with their weapon? What if Annie couldn't heal the others? I tried to convince myself that I wouldn't care if the senior X-Men died, but I couldn't quite get it to sit easily in my mind. Since finding out Marina was alive, my feelings towards them had changed. As Gemini had said, perhaps they weren't the monsters we had though they were.

Movement up ahead caught my attention, and I immediately cast my anxieties out of my mind. I had a job to do. As I looked up, I saw the other two Horsemen of the Apocalypse walking towards me. I was still camouflaged, and they were obviously unaware of me. Death, still shrouded in his black cowl, glided across the tiled floor like a shadow in the darkness. Famine, the pale thin skeleton, walked beside him, his bony limbs jutting at cruel, pointed angles. He carried a large metal crate that looked far too heavy for his skeletal figure. On the side of the crate I could read the words: **RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL - Handle with EXTREME caution**; along with the standard hazard symbols for radiation. That had to be what they had come for. If it was radioactive then it had to be a nuclear device, since a chemical or biological agent would have been labelled differently. Were the Horsemen planning to construct a nuclear missile? Cyclops had spoken of their weapon being powerful enough to devastate the whole world if it were ever used. If that was true - and there was no reason for him to lie - then it was inconceivable that they should be allowed to escape with this device. I had to stop them. They were already on their way out. I had found them just in time.

As they approached me I tensed my muscles and inhaled a deep breath, ready to do whatever I could, hurriedly going over what little I knew about the Horsemen, trying to work out what my best strategy might be. They were separated just now - Pestilence and War were elsewhere - that would work to my advantage, but I couldn't rely on it lasting for any more than a few seconds. Could I kill Famine or Death in that time? I had to try. For a moment I wondered what on Earth I was doing, planning to kill other mutants, but in this case that reasoning did not apply. It didn't matter what they were, human or mutant. They were enemies who represented a threat to the innocent and defenceless of this world, and thus it was our duty - my duty - to stop them.

I went for Famine first, drawing back my fist and punching him solidly in the chest, flinging him away from me back down the corridor. The ghostly shape that was Death whirled in an instant, his piercing blue eyes narrowing as he looked in vain for an attacker. The crate had been thrown from Famine's grip, and now lay on its side against the wall. The skeletoid arose, quicker than I had been expecting, and he too looked in all directions to see where the attack had come from. Death figured it out first.

"Do not forget there is an invisible mutant…" he hissed. "He opposed us once before…and he will die with the rest. For the Apocalypse is nearly upon us…"

"It is nearly upon us," Famine wheezed in agreement.

"There is the instrument of their doom…take it…" said Death, pointing to the crate.

Famine moved towards it, but I was already there, and I twisted to kick him away, sending him flying. With some satisfaction I heard the _crunch_ as his bony form impacted against the wall. I knew it would be some time before he got back on his feet. That left me at least a few seconds to try and formulate some plan for fighting Death.

And yet, impossibly, Famine was rising to his feet. It was like watching a skeleton rising from a grave. He showed no signs of injury and moved as easily as if it had never happened. It was almost as if I had never hit him. I clenched my fists. All right, so his body was stronger than it looked. That didn't mean he could stand up to me for long. I homed in on him once more, my invisible form moving unseen in front of Death's eyes. This time I slammed my fist into Famine's jaw, a punch so powerful that his head should have been severed from his neck. It wasn't. His head flew back, then he regained his balance again, backing away and standing against the wall to reduce the number of angles I might attack from. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't understand it at all. This was not happening. I had just delivered a blow that should have caused him a fatal injury at the very _least_. Even adamantium-fisted Mole couldn't have hit him any harder than that. I had thought Famine was clearly stronger than I had originally given him credit for, but nobody was _that_ strong. It was impossible.

I didn't have any time to ponder the matter, as Death was now moving over towards the crate. I was caught in two minds. I knew I couldn't touch him for fear of irradiation, but at the same time I knew I couldn't let him have what was inside the crate either. I exhaled a jet of flame, singing the air inside the closed space of the corridor and engulfing Death's head and shoulders in a ball of fire. This time I knew I had succeeded. Nobody except Pyro could have survived that. But to my disbelief I was proved wrong again. As the smoke cleared I saw that while Death's black cloak was singed and burnt, there was not even a mark on his body.

"What the hell _are_ you?!" I couldn't stop myself exclaiming.

Both of them homed in on the sound immediately, their heads snapping round to face the direction from which I had spoken. Death had raised a chalk-white hand from the folds of his cloak and was walking towards me. I backed away hurriedly. I had seen what his radiation attack had done to that human – I wasn't about to let the same thing happen to myself. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Famine also approaching me. I knew I didn't want to let him touch me either, but if I took him by surprise I should be OK. Still invisible, I seized the skeletoid and hurled him through the air towards the deadly ghost-like figure. Not waiting to see what happened, I ran towards the nuclear crate and grabbed it, hurrying away as fast as I could. I didn't have to kill them, and it was proving strangely difficult. All I had to do was keep this crate away from them. I kicked open the door at the end of the corridor and hurried through. 

Right into Pestilence. My camouflage had dropped sometime during the tension of my escape, and the insectoid could see me all too clearly. He drew his neck back to spit acid, but I kicked him aside and used the crate to shield myself from his claws. A gigantic fist closed around my neck as I tried to activate my camouflage once more. War grunted angrily as he lifted me off the ground, and slammed my body into the wall. The crate was jarred from my grasp and hit the floor. Pestilence spat a wad of corrosive acid in my direction but only managed to hit War. The giant roared and swung his free hand at the demonic insectoid. I breathed flame directly in War's face, but I already knew flame didn't hurt him. He had however shut his eyes on instinct, and I took advantage of his distraction to put both of my hands around his hugely thick and muscled neck, squeezing as hard as I could. War's hand was still around my throat, holding me aloft, and he began to squeeze too. Now it was just a question of strength. 

Not quite. Pestilence's claws slashed at my arm, forcing me to release my grip on the giant's throat. War grunted his satisfaction and increased the pressure on my windpipe. I felt my anger rising and I knew I was about to go berserk. This might be my very last chance.

A _crack_ sounded unexpectedly from my right, and War stumbled as a bolt of lightning hit him in the side. In surprise both of us turned. Shock stood at the other end of the corridor, both of her hands raised. I could see some other figures behind her but I didn't have time to recognise them. I punched War in the face and twisted free of his grasp, landing on the floor, choking for air. Shock launched another lightning bolt, hitting the giant once more. He howled in pain and fell on his side, his massive hands clutching at his burned skin. Pestilence hissed angrily and jumped to adhere himself to the ceiling. Running along above my head, he leapt down from the ceiling with all his claws extended towards Shock's throat. She raised her hands to fire another lightning bolt but I knew she was too late.

Cassandra grabbed Shock and pulled her to safety just as the insectoid sprang. Helios had one hand out, shining light into Pestilence's eyes, and the demonic figure was forced to look away to avoid being blinded. Shapeshifter was on him in an instant, spinning to kick the small insect body to the floor. Behind them I could see Aqua, looking on nervously. With a grunt War was back on his feet, either ignoring or having recovered from his pain. He lumbered over towards them, his gigantic footsteps almost shaking the ground as he went. He threw one massive fist towards Shapeshifter, but the liquefier was already rolling to one side to avoid it.

Then War made a mistake. He swung his other fist towards Aqua. That was the final catalyst that was required to send me into my berserk state. Aqua was quick and nimble enough to dodge out of the clumsy mammoth's way, and with a scream of rage I ploughed into the giant from behind. With my enhanced strength he had no hope of standing up to me, and with a single punch I sent him flying into the wall. For a moment he struggled to rise, then his gigantic form slumped to the floor unconscious.

"Gary!" somebody exclaimed.

I had no time to respond. I looked back round. Pestilence was getting back on his feet. Famine and Death had also arrived, and both of them had spotted the crate lying where War had forced it from the grip.

"The crate!" I yelled. "It's a nuclear device! That's why they're here! We can't let them have it!"

Shock fired an electric bolt at Death as the ghost moved towards the crate, but it seemed to have no effect whatsoever. Shapeshifter was already striding forward to contend with him, but I pulled him back, "Don't go anywhere near him! He'll irradiate you! He did it to Pyro and the others!"

"We have to do something!" he snapped angrily.

Death was stooping to retrieve the crate when I heard a small voice whispering from behind me.

"The pipes…" Aqua said softly.

I looked overhead to see a series of pipes connected to the ceiling, running along the length of the corridor. I had no time to wonder what had grabbed her attention. Death had one hand on the crate and Famine was already turning to head back the way they'd just come. There had to be another exit that way. I was already hurrying forwards, forgetting my previous reluctance, determined to stop the Horsemen at all costs. Aqua screamed, "Gary, get down!"

Without thinking I dropped to the ground, accustomed as I was to hearing life-saving warnings from a female voice. I twisted to see what threat might be coming up from behind me. Aqua had both her hands outstretched, and the others had also hit the floor around her. She concentrated for a moment, then with a gasp of effort she released her power. From the pipes overhead burst gallons of water, shooting out almost horizontally towards the Horsemen. Death was hit full force by the aquatic onslaught and thrown headlong. As the water continued to stream out, the corridor began to flood, carrying the Horsemen away with it. Pestilence struggled furiously against the overpowering tidal force, but he had no chance. He too was swept away with Famine and Death, hurtling along in whatever direction the water might carry them. War had just risen to his feet, and he too fought to remain on his feet, but even his mighty strength was no match for Aqua's flood. With a last roar he was carried away with the rest.

Aqua lowered her arms and slumped to the floor, exhausted. Shock and Shapeshifter knelt by her side and supported her, and I hurried forwards to grab the crate. It had remained untouched by the water, and I gratefully lifted it into my arms.

"I'll take it," came a voice.

"Annie!" I exclaimed. "How are the others?"

"I think they're going to be all right," she said. "I healed them as best I could, but it will take time for them to recover. Logan should do so quicker than the others, but it will still be several hours."

"What about the Horsemen?"

"They're leaving. I think they realise they've lost this round. They will certainly try again, and we'll have to be ready to stop them a second time – hopefully permanently."

She took the crate from me, and I turned my attention to the rest. Helios was tending to Cassandra's arm where she had sustained a slight injury, and Marina was still flanked by her foster parents. I walked over to her, but Shapeshifter looked up, saw me coming, and signalled to Shock. Quickly but gently she took Marina by the arm and hurried her away, back to the exit. Shapeshifter stood, his arms folded, blocking my way, staring at me as if issuing a challenge. 

"I thought I told you to stay away from her," he said icily.

I ignored him, and turned to look for Cassandra. She was watching Helios as he headed for the exit, but a smile crossed her face when she saw me approaching.

"Hey," she said. "Your sister said Pyro's gonna be OK."

"Yeah."

"She healed me too. The X-Men were right; I _do_ have the Plague. Or I did, at least. It's the most wonderful feeling inside of me. Since she healed me – my feelings for her have changed so much. It's like she's _my_ sister too. I don't hate her any more. I can't – not after what she did for me."

"I know how you feel. Once the Horsemen are dead, I'll – "

"You'll what?"

"I – I guess I'll have to talk to my sister and apologise for what happened between us. And to the rest of them as well. She's not the only one I've hurt."

Cassandra smiled, "I'm just concentrating on the Horsemen just now. We have to kill them and make the world a safer place for our children."

"Our children?"

"Yes. The children we're going to have when we get married, remember? The promise we made?"

I didn't respond. I didn't know what to say. I sensed Cassandra had led the conversation this way deliberately to try and force an answer from me on the Marina issue, but I didn't have an answer yet. I hastily looked for a distraction. Annie was walking past, carrying the crate, and I asked my sister, "So what do we do now?"

"We wait. Unless Dad has recovered sufficiently we won't know where the Horsemen are based, and we won't be able to do anything until they've made their next move."

"What about Recyclo?"

"I don't know. How is Mystique going to contact us?"

"I've no idea. I imagine she'll find a way."

Cassandra put in, "I think the X-Men sent that teleporter mutant to hunt for Recyclo."

"That would be Nightcrawler," said Annie.

The three of us were heading for the exit together. At that moment Annie turned to me with a slight frown on her face, "Gary, there's something else bothering you – what is it?"

She must have been reading my thoughts, for there was a slight uneasy feeling at the back of my mind. I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"It was something Death said," I told her. "I can't remember exactly what it was, and I didn't have any time to think about it when he said it, but – something feels wrong. The guesses we've made; the assumptions we're banking on; something doesn't feel right…"

"What do you mean?" said Cassandra.

"I don't know. He said something about the Apocalypse being near. I remember him saying something similar when we met them at the mansion that time. I didn't know what he was talking about – I guess I still don't. He said something else too – I can't remember what…no, wait – I remember now."

"What was it?"

"He was talking to Famine while the two of them were looking for me. Death said I would 'die with the rest'."

"What does that mean? What are they going to do to you?"

Annie must have worked it out a second before I did, as her golden eyes suddenly widened with horror, "Oh, no."

"What?" said Cassandra, who was obviously still a step further back.

"Gary, you were right," said Annie. "We have been making wrong assumptions. In fact we've been making mistakes that could have proved fatal – and perhaps still could."

"Would someone please tell me what's going on?" my fiancée demanded. 

Annie looked at her, "We assumed from the minute go that the Horsemen were building this missile because they intended to use it to blackmail the world into giving them whatever they wanted. The truth is even worse than that. They think they really _are_ the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They have no intention of holding the world to ransom. They're going to launch that missile and kill every single living thing on the planet. That is their Apocalypse."


	12. Life as we know it

Chapter Eleven

The group gathered around us in the meeting room greeted the news with the same horror we ourselves had felt. 

"Are you sure about this?" asked Shock, clearly hoping we weren't.

"I'm afraid so," said Annie.

She looked to our father for guidance. Oculus' gold eyes looked back into those of his only daughter as he said, "This confirms what little I was able to read from their minds while using Cerebro. There's something strange about the Horsemen. Two of their minds I couldn't access at all. But anyway – this makes matters worse. Much worse. Now we don't even have the luxury of being able to attack them and dismantle their missile while they are issuing their demands. We can only assume they will launch it the second it is completed. This tips our hand. We can't wait for them to make the next move. I'm not entirely sure where they're building this weapon, but I was able to narrow it down. We have to go out and destroy it before they can find another nuclear device."

"We also have the vaccine to worry about," said Gaia. "It's hard to decide which is our greater priority."

"The obvious solution is to split into two groups and do both at the same time. The only problem is, we don't know where to go to do either of them."

Our mother sighed, "You're right, we have to do both. There's no point saving the world from one holocaust only to leave it at the mercy of another."

"So what are we going to do?" I asked impatiently.

"Nightcrawler is tracking Recyclo, and from your mind I can see that Mystique is too," said my father. "I don't think we can do anything more on that front until they've located him."

"Can't you use Cerebro?" said Annie. "I know your telepathy probably isn't as strong as mine, but you've used the machine often enough to know how to handle it."

"I don't think it would help. Recyclo's mind is warped and twisted and isn't easy to track down. You've probably experienced it yourself."

"Yes."

"Given that, I think our only option is to concentrate on the Horsemen. Chris?"

Shapeshifter nodded, "I can set up a computer program that will monitor Internet traffic in the area you think the Horsemen are based. If they make a move it will be seen by somebody, and I'll know about it. Then we can move against them."

"All right," said Oculus. "With so many of our friends still not recovered from Death's radiation poisoning, we're down to something like half our normal strength. I know none of you is going to shirk away from the responsibility we have here, but I can't deny that we find ourselves at a distinct disadvantage. And it doesn't help that most of you are not even adults."

He looked from me, to Annie, to Cassandra, to Helios, to Aqua.

"Whatever you want us to do, we're ready," said Helios confidently.

Cassandra nodded her agreement, squeezing my hand to boost either her own confidence or my own, I didn't know which.

"Dad," I said to him. "I know you can see into my mind. Is there anything you can tell me about the Horsemen that I don't already know? They seemed impossibly strong when I fought them earlier today. I'm just wondering if they have some extra power that makes them resistant to physical harm, or something."

"I noticed the same thing when we fought them at the mansion that time," Annie added. "Two of them seem to have a normal reaction to pain and damage – Pestilence and War. But the other two are different."

"Yes," said our father. "There's a lot that's different about Famine and Death."

"What do you mean? Do you know something we don't?"

"Possibly. Chris and I managed to hack into Van Gaarde's research files on his employers' computer system. I think what we found told us all we needed to know. It just required a bit of working out, and what you've told us completes the puzzle quite nicely."

"Tell us," I said.

"OK. This much you know, or at least suspect: Van Gaarde was recruited by the government to breed a set of genetically enhanced super-mutants, to use as a safeguard against any possible attacks from the rest of the mutant population. Now obviously the government weren't stupid enough to fund the creation of a super-powerful being that might one day turn against them, so they put in certain safeguards. One was a form of 'auto-destruct' mechanism that was implanted into the Horsemen's vital organs, to ensure that they could be safely killed at the flick of a switch."

"So that's how we kill them?" asked Shock.

"Unfortunately, no. Van Gaarde knew he was only being released from prison to work on this project. He knew he'd be returning there to finish his multiple life sentences once the Horsemen were ready. He decided to try and deceive the government, and he secretly operated on the Horsemen to remove their auto-destruct mechanisms."

"And he succeeded?"

"He successfully removed the devices from Pestilence and War. They continued to lead a normal life – or as normal a life as could be expected in their position."

"What about the other two?" one of the girls asked.

"Their kill-switches were buried too deep inside their major organs. Van Gaarde was a competent surgeon, but not good enough for the kind of infinitesimally careful work that needed done. He came up with another solution."

"What?"

"I don't know the exact details of the procedure, and I don't think we ever will. Only one or possibly two men have ever known more than Van Gaarde about mutant genetics. And they're both dead. From what I can tell, something about mutants makes us more resistant to radiation that ordinary humans. It's something to do with the mutant gene that is passed on by the male parent. Maybe it's evolution's way of trying to protect us. Anyway, Van Gaarde knew about this, and he decided to use it to his advantage. In the same way that a mild form of radiation can be used to kill tumours in cancer patients, he used a harsher form of radiation to try and destroy the implant devices."

"Did it work?"

"It did. It also changed the two remaining Horsemen – Famine and Death – into something they had never been before. Certainly not something the government had intended them to be, and I can only guess how much of it Van Gaarde predicted. In a way he created a new life form. They're no longer alive in the way we would understand it – they don't eat, they don't need sleep, they don't breathe – but they're not dead either. They're somewhere in between. That's why you couldn't hurt them, Gary. They don't feel pain and their bodies don't take damage in the way ours do."

"Are you sure about this?" asked Cassandra doubtfully. "It sounds crazy to me. How can they not be alive and not be dead?"

"I said I don't fully understand it. There's a lot about the mutant body we don't fully understand. We're different from humans in more ways than you might think. Take yourself for example; you're more than just a human who can see into the future. You're a different species. I don't know if we're an improvement on humanity or simply an alternative, but we _are_ different. While humans and mutants can have children together, it isn't a good idea. But anyway, I digress. Van Gaarde's experimentation has now caused mutant life to take a further offshoot from our original human DNA. Famine and Death are life as we have never seen it before."

"So how do we kill them?" I asked impatiently.

"I don't know. As I said, they aren't alive in the same way we are. They can withstand any amount of physical harm without so much as a scratch. Yet it may be that there is something else, something which does not harm us, that may turn out to be their undoing."

"So the radiation treatment – that's what gave Death his radioactive power?" asked Annie.

"I assume it must be. That's another thing I discovered. Radiation gave them their new life, and now they crave it, almost like a drug. Like I said, they don't need food, sleep or oxygen – it is radiation that sustains them. And like a drug, it gives them an intense high – a sort of euphoria rush. It would be like – well, you're all too young to know what sex feels like."

Cassandra and I glanced at each other for a second, then I returned my attention to the matter in hand. Annie was speaking.

"I think I understand now," she said. "That's why they want to launch this missile. They want to annihilate all life on Earth with lethal levels of nuclear radiation from the explosion. It will take centuries for the radiation levels to subside, and in the meantime Famine and Death can live in a world of perpetual radioactive heaven."

"Kind of a nuclear paradise," I said.

"Yes. It's their Apocalypse. Destroying the world and life as it is, to usher in a new age – their own."

"What about War and Pestilence? Would they survive?"

Oculus shook his head, "No. They'd die along with everybody else."

"Don't they realise what they're doing? What they're going to do to themselves?"

"I don't know. I don't think they really matter. It's the other two we have to worry about."

Shapeshifter nodded, "Agreed. We have to move fast. I'll start on that computer program right now."

"Wait a minute," said Cassandra. "You said you found all this by hacking into Van Gaarde's computer files, right? Well, we did the exact same thing and found nothing."

I looked at her, "It wasn't us – it was Recyclo. He only told us he'd never found anything."

Gaia's eyes widened a little, "If Recyclo found the same information we found – if he knows everything about this we do – "

"Would he join us to help fight them?" asked Helios, a note of hope in his voice.

Nobody replied. Nobody knew. I suspected Recyclo hadn't played his last part in this business, but I couldn't predict what he might do, and on which side his strike might fall.

"What do you want me to do in the meantime?" I asked my father.

"There's nothing we can do until the Horsemen make a move," he said. "I suggest you get some sleep. You too, Cassandra. You've been awake for more than 24 hours."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Where can I sleep?"

"I'll show you," said Annie.

Cassandra and I followed her to the upper floors, where she led us into one of the empty bedrooms. I turned to my sister, "Annie – what Dad just said…is it true? It sounds too fantastical to be possible. It sounds like something out of a science fiction novel…"

"It does, but people probably said the same thing about mutants once. I could read Dad's mind and I know he wasn't lying. He believed what he was saying. Whether or not it was accurate, I don't know."

"Assuming it's true – what do we do?" said Cassandra. "I mean, how do you fight people who can't be killed?"

"I don't know that either. We'll find a way. We have to. Anything else is inconceivable."

"I know, but – " my girlfriend hesitated. " – what if we can't? What if there isn't anything that can stop them? I know you guys believe in God – I'm not sure if I do or not – but doesn't the Bible say something about the Apocalypse bringing the end of the world? Maybe that's what this is."

Annie shook her head, "No. This isn't God's work. We _will_ find a way to stop them."

"Or die trying," I added.

"You two just get some sleep. We'll wake you the second anything happens."

She left, and Cassandra and I were alone. Up until the moment Dad had mentioned sleep, I hadn't realised quite how tired I was. My adrenaline and the last vestiges of my berserk power were keeping me going, but now I could feel fatigue tugging at my eyes and my muscles, urging me to rest. I didn't resist too much. Dropping on to one of the beds I fell asleep almost as my head hit the pillow.

How long I slept I didn't know, but I was jolted awake by a hand tugging my shoulder and a voice speaking urgently into my ear, "Hey! Wake up!"

My eyes snapped open and I looked up into Annie's face. I could tell instantly from her expression that something was wrong.

"What is it?"

"We're in trouble. Get downstairs now."

With that she had left the room and I heard her hurrying away down the corridor. The room was empty; Cassandra must have already woken up and left. The urgency of Annie's voice had jolted me into action, and I quickly stood, running after her. I caught up with her just as she reached the stairs, and I asked, "So what's going on?"

"We received a transmission a few minutes ago. The Horsemen are launching a missile at the mansion."

"They're _what_? You mean they've got hold of a nuclear device?" 

"No. It isn't a nuke. It's an ordinary explosive warhead. Well, I say ordinary but it's powerful enough to level this facility and everything else for some considerable radius. We assume they're testing their launching platform, and trying to get us out of the way at the same time."

We had reached the bottom of the stairs now, and Annie passed me a piece of paper, "They're launching a second missile too, aimed at those co-ordinates. Do you recognise them?"

I looked at the scrap of paper on which Annie had scribbled down the numbers. For a moment nothing registered, then a vague memory surfaced and I gasped in horror, "It's our island! It's the co-ordinates of our island!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! They're trying to take out the X-Men and the Brotherhood in one fell swoop! How did we come to know about this?"

"As I said, we got a transmission. It was anonymous. I have a suspicion who sent it, but – "

We had now reached the ground floor where the others were gathered.

"What's the plan?" I asked.

Oculus must have read Annie's mind, as he said, "Gary, use the communicator and contact the island. Tell them to get clear. We'll make preparations to evacuate the children from the mansion, and try to think of some way we can deflect the missile."

"Got it," I said, and Annie and I hurried to the communications room.

Cassandra and Marina had joined us by the time we got there, and I entered the island's frequency from memory. It wasn't long before a voice answered, sounding sleepy, "…hello?"

"Vertigo?" I asked.

"Gladiator? That you? What's – "

"I don't have time to explain! Get the helicopter ready! Get everybody off the island!"

He was awake now, "What? I can't do that!"

"Don't argue with me; this isn't a joke! Do it!"

"No, you don't understand! We can't use the helicopter! I've been looking it over, and I think Recyclo must have sabotaged it before he left! It'll take off but I won't be able to keep it in the air!"

"Damn it! All right, we're coming to you. Get everybody ready."

"OK. What's this – "

I didn't answer, switching off the communicator. I turned to Annie, "We have to get out there."

She nodded without question, and ran to get one of the jets ready. I was on my way to tell the others what was going on, when I heard my father's telepathic voice in my mind, _I know what you're doing, Gary. Don't waste time talking to us._

I hurried to the hangar where Annie was already at the controls of one of the aircraft, ready to go. Cassandra and Marina were still behind me as I hurried up the ramp into the interior. I was too preoccupied and too tense to tell them to stay here, out of danger. Annie took off and we were heading out towards the island.

"I can't believe you're doing this," I said to my sister. "I thought you hated my friends. I thought you people hated the Brotherhood."

"No. They're only children. Pyro is the one who's controlling them. He's the only one I have an issue with. Let me see those co-ordinates again."

I gave her the piece of paper, and I went to sit in the back with the two fourteen year old girls. Cassandra and Aqua were sitting opposite each other, neither wanting to catch the other's eye, an uneasy silence hanging in the air between them. As I approached, I realised I had to make a choice. With the two of them sitting on either side of the passenger compartment, I could only sit beside one or the other. There was no middle ground. Both of them looked at me, waiting for me to choose. I didn't want to make the choice. My knees brushed against a seat – one of the seats at the rear of the cockpit – and I hastily sank down into it. Breathing a slight sigh of relief, I knew I was only putting off the inevitable. Sometime soon I _would_ have to choose.

It was only a few minutes later when Annie spoke from the front, "We're getting near. Be ready to lower the ramp and help them on board."

Cassandra stood to hit the ramp control, then Annie's voice came again, this time urgent and strained, "I've got something on radar! Moving fast…same course as us…it must be the missile!"

"Is it behind or us in front?" I asked.

She was too busy with the controls to respond. I gripped the edge of my seat tightly as we began to accelerate rapidly, the ocean passing below in a blue blur. Eventually I could see the island in the front view-port. I could also see that we were too late. The missile was already ahead of us, arcing down towards its target. There was no way we could get there before it obliterated the island.

"_No_!" Cassandra screamed. "Gemini! Acceleratus!"

I was on my feet, my mouth opening in horror as the missile began to drop almost vertically towards the island.

"Annie, do something!"

"I can't, it's too fast! There's nothing I can – _look_!"

Cassandra and I pressed forward to peer through the front view-port, following Annie's pointing finger.

"The helicopter! But Vertigo said – "

"Hold on!" Annie warned us.

The jet turned and dipped suddenly, throwing Cassandra into me. We clutched each other instinctively, watching the helicopter's seemingly unbearably slow rise from the pad. The missile dipped, and homed in on the sanctuary building, striking with cold, deadly accuracy. The explosion ripped through the calmness of the day with a thunderous roar, a huge orange fireball filling the front view-port. The shockwave rocked the jet, and Annie struggled to keep it under control.

"Are they all right?" Cassandra screamed. "Where's the helicopter? Are they all right?"

Then, from the cloud of smoke that surrounded where the island had once been, we saw the plummeting shape of the ruined helicopter as it plunged towards the ocean.

"_No-o-o-o_!!!" Cassandra shrieked.

Then Annie turned in her seat, "Marina…!"

I looked back, just in time to see Marina disappearing off the edge of the partially lowered ramp, into the ocean below. She hit the water in a perfect dive, and before I knew what I was doing I had run to the back of the jet and dived after her. I hit the ocean's surface with considerably less grace, but I got myself under control and looked for Marina. Ducking under the surface, I could see her streaking through the water towards the sinking wreck of the chopper, cutting through the water like a fish. I swam after her as fast as I could. It didn't occur to me how bad an idea this was. I was going after Marina because of my determination to protect her. I had forgotten that below the water I was the lost and confused one, the one in need of _her_ protection. Nevertheless I continued to dive down towards the helicopter.

Marina had already reached it by the time I was halfway down, and she began struggling with the cockpit door. With her mastery of the water to help her, it took only a few seconds before she managed to force it open, and reached inside. By this time I was down by her side, and beginning to realise just how stupid this really was. Not only was I not a very good swimmer, I couldn't hold my breath for any more than a minute. I wasn't going to be a whole lot of use down here.

Aqua had pulled free the first of the figures trapped inside the helicopter. It was little Acceleratus, and she wasn't moving. Marina reached inside the helicopter to pull out another figure – Gemini – then put an arm around each of them and prepared to swim to the surface. Then she spotted me. There was no time for her to ask what I was doing down here; she simply did the first thing that came into her mind, planting her lips firmly on mine and breathing oxygen through her aqualungs into my mouth. Then she was gone, flitting upwards like a dolphin. I reached into the chopper to grab the first person I came to – Mole – then pulled Scarab free as well. Mere seconds had passed, but Marina was already back at my side. She gave me another mouthful of air, then disappeared upwards with the two small figures. That left just Vertigo and Atlas inside the helicopter. They were up front by the controls, and I had to stretch dangerously far inside to pull them free. My lungs were almost empty when I got them out, but there was Marina to replenish my air and this time I swam up to the surface with her.

My head broke the surface and I gratefully gasped at the sea air. It took me a moment to get myself back under control, then I took stock of the situation. The jet was hovering overhead, steadily lowering towards the surface of the water. Annie was presumably still at the controls. Bobbing in the water not far away from me was a bright yellow inflatable life raft – it must have been stowed inside the jet – with Cassandra kneeling inside. Marina was helping her lift the still, unmoving figures of my friends into the raft. I swam over. Were they alive? Had we rescued them from the sunken chopper only to find out it had been for nothing?

__

They're alive, came Annie's mind, _all of them_._ Cassandra, hold on. I'm going to lift the raft on board._

The jet was mere feet above sea level now, and Annie's telekinetic powers lifted it the short distance into the aircraft's interior. Watching it go, I felt Marina's arm slipping around me. For a moment I thought she was making a romantic gesture, but more likely she had realised how bad a swimmer I was, and was simply trying to keep me afloat. She lifted her other hand – for a moment I wasn't sure what she was trying to do – then a tall plume of water, summoned by her power, propelled the two of us upwards and on to the landing ramp. Cassandra hit the switch to raise it back into position, and I collapsed on to the floor, exhausted, in Marina's arms.

"They'll be OK," she panted.

"Thanks to you," I told her.

She gave a small, nervous smile, and looked away. Suddenly her confidence was gone. Below the water she had been a different person – lightning fast, all-powerful, in command of everything – but now that we were back above the surface, she was her usual shy, traumatised self. Like a fish out of water, was the expression that sprang instantly to mind. As I thought about it, I realised just how well that summed up Marina. A fish out of water. Someone being forced to live in an environment they weren't suited to. Marina had lost her family, lost everything that had ever mattered to her above the water – now the only place she could find solace and happiness was beneath the waves, where she truly belonged.

I found myself hurrying to the cockpit to find Annie, "Can you tell what's happening back at the mansion?"

"No. It's too far away. When we get closer I'll try and use my telepathy to contact Dad. In the meantime there are some blankets in the emergency locker. You'd better give them to your friends."

Cassandra was already pulling the grey blankets from one of the storage compartments, and distributing them amongst the almost-drowned Brotherhood members. Some of them had regained consciousness, but only to the extent that they could wrap the blanket around themselves – they had no idea where they were or what was going on. It would take a few minutes at least for the shock to wear off. I took one of the blankets and wrapped it around the cold, shivering form of Gemini. Unaware of who I was, she instinctively put her arms around me, murmuring, "Pyro…" and resting against me. Inhaling, I breathed a very gentle flame towards her water-logged figure, hoping it would warm her up without harming her. Looking up, I saw Cassandra swathing the tiny Acceleratus in a blanket and cuddling the child against her chest. I knew she loved the maternal feelings she got whenever the little girl was near, and she wanted more than anything to have her own – our own – children. And yet, I was no longer as sure as I had once been, now that my aquatic angel was also claiming her own part of my heart.

Gemini was looking up into my eyes. She blinked once, then frowned slightly, "Gladiator – is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me."

"Oh – I thought you were an angel. I – I thought I was dead."

"Not this time. You're going to be OK."

She looked around the interior of the jet, "Where are we? Where are we going? Who was attacking the island?"

"The Horsemen," I said.

Gemini looked at Annie suspiciously, "What's she doing here? Did Pyro agree to the alliance?"

"Yes. We can explain it to you fully once we get back to their mansion."

She didn't respond right away. Gemini was staring at Marina, and she whispered into my ear, "Is that her?"

"That's Marina."

Then a thought occurred to me. Gemini had let go of me and I stood to join my sister up front in the cockpit.

"What's the matter?" said Annie as she sensed me approaching.

"Something doesn't add up," I told her. "It's obvious the Horsemen deliberately targeted the island with that missile. What I don't understand is how they knew its location."

"You mean – "

"Nobody knows the co-ordinates of the island except Pyro – and I guess the rest of the Brotherhood. I don't understand how the Horsemen knew we were based there. Obviously they know where the mansion is because they've been there – but how could they have found out about the island?"

"I suppose somebody must have told them," said Annie.

"But who knew? Nobody except – oh – of course."

"Recyclo knew."

"You think he told them? You think he's met them since he fled?"

She considered it, "I don't know. It's possible. For a while I suspected that our warning message about the missiles might have come from Recyclo – but Mystique is following him, and if he'd found out about it, she would have too."

"And she would have told us. So the warning must have come from her?"

"Yes."

"If Recyclo has allied himself with the Horsemen – what does this mean for us?" I asked.

"I suppose in a way it makes our job easier. If our two targets _have_ merged – and that's still only an assumption – then we can take both of them out together. We can destroy their nuclear weapon while retrieving the antidote from Recyclo."

"Assuming he hasn't already destroyed it."

"I think Mystique would have told us if that had happened."

"Yes, you're probably right."

Annie's brow furrowed suddenly in concentration, "We're getting close to home. I can sense Dad's mind."

"Are they OK? Did they evacuate in time?"

"From his thoughts, I don't think the first missile has arrived yet. If I increase speed we might get there before it. Tell the others to get strapped in. Tell Vertigo to come up here. I might need his help."

"Right."

I hurried into the back where my friends, with the exception of little Acceleratus, were awake and fully conscious. The tiny mutant was still sleeping in Cassandra's arms. Marina, nervous in the presence of the Brotherhood, had moved over to stand beside me.

"Everyone take a seat and strap yourselves in," I told them. "In a moment we're going to start going a lot faster. Vertigo, Crusader wants you up front."

He looked doubtful, but nevertheless moved past me to join my sister in the cockpit. The rest moved towards the seats and began pulling their restraints into place. I took one of the rear cockpit seats, and Marina silently sank into the one beside me. I had no sooner put my strappings together when the jet leapt ahead with a sudden burst of speed, and the ground below us began to pass by so fast it looked like one whirled mess of colour.

And then we were there. Ahead I could see the mansion, and in the sky beyond a steadily growing black speck that had to be the second missile. It was dipping, dropping down into a lethal arc that would ensure certain death for everybody inside the school when it hit.

"Have they evacuated?" I asked.

"Not all of them," Annie responded.

"There must be something we can do!"

"Look down."

I looked. On the grass below us a single figure stood, facing the oncoming missile, both of his hands outstretched. It was Oculus, our father. I looked up at the incoming rocket once more. It seemed to be moving a little slower than before – or was that my imagination? – but was still falling relentlessly, unstoppably down towards its target.

"What is – what is he doing?" Marina asked

"He's using his power to try and stop the missile," said Annie. "But he can't do it alone. Vertigo, take over!"

Without question he took over the aircraft's controls, while Annie rose from her seat and hurried into the rear section. 

"Where are you going?" I asked her.

She didn't have time to respond, hitting the control that released the landing ramp. As Vertigo brought us down to skim the grasses below, Annie jumped out. Using her mind powers to control her fall, she landed gracefully in the gardens a few feet away from Dad. From the front door of the mansion a group was hurrying towards us.

"Touch down!" I said to Vertigo. "If they can't stop the missile we'll have to evacuate the rest in the jet!"

He did so, and the hurrying figures climbed up into the aircraft. Among them were Helios and Gaia. 

"Where are Pyro and the others?" I asked.

"Chris and Fliss got them out on the other jet," said my mother. "Gary – Gary, wait!"

I didn't know what had possessed me to do it, but I was running down the ramp and outside, over to where my father and sister now stood. Their combined telekinetic power now fought against the incoming missile, as the needle-thin black shape continued to arc down towards us. There had to be something I could do. There had to be some action I could take, that would contribute to their efforts and stop the rocket. There wasn't. All I could do was stand and watch, watch as the missile dropped vertically towards us. Annie gave a gasp of exertion as she stretched her power even further. Dad's muscles tightened and he gave a cry of rage as he entered his own berserk state. The two of them were pushing now, pushing with everything they had. 

And it was working. The rocket had already slowed, and its momentum began to drop lower and lower. As it dropped directly on top of us, I shut my eyes and raised my arms in an instinctive yet useless defence. A second passed. Then another, and another. Slowly, tentatively, I opened my eyes. Annie and Dad were both swaying with the taxation of their power, but both were holding firm. Above them, less than a foot above Dad's outstretched hand, the missile had stopped dead in mid-air. I sagged with relief.

It seemed that, for the time being, all was now well. The rocket had been carefully lowered to the ground and disarmed; it would no longer pose a threat to us. With the imminent danger passed, those who had already evacuated soon returned. Shapeshifter was among them, and one of his first actions was to check on the computer program he had left to monitor activity in the area where we believed the Horsemen to be active. I was with Annie as she recovered from the intense strain of using her mind powers to combat the missile. Dad was there as well, working with a map and a set of calculations.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He looked over, "I'm trying to work out where the missiles came from. The one fired at the island arrived considerably sooner than the one aimed at the mansion. If we assume they were launched at the same time, we can work out an approximation of where they were fired from. Coupled with what I was able to gather while using Cerebro, it should pinpoint the Horsemen's location precisely."

"They sent the missiles to kill us…do you think they know we survived?"

"I doubt it. They obviously intended to wipe out any remaining threat to their plans. While it's worrying that they will go to such lengths to kill us, it's a positive sign that they _do_ see us as a threat. They obviously consider us capable of stopping or at least hindering them. Hopefully that means they have some weakness we don't know about, that we might be able to exploit."

"Once you find out where they're based, are you going to go and kill them?" I asked.

"No. It isn't my place to fight any more. The world was once mine to protect, but I've since passed it on to another."

"Who?"

"To Annie, of course. And to you too, if you choose to protect it."

"Father, I – "

Our conversation was abruptly cut short as the door was thrown open and Shapeshifter entered, with Shock close behind him.

"Neil? Oh, there you are," said the liquefier. "We have a serious problem, and if we don't act soon we may have lost everything."

"What are you talking about?" I said.

"It happened while we were preoccupied with the missile attacks. The Horsemen raided another military compound. They found what they were looking for."

"Oh, no," said Oculus.

My eyes widened in horror, "You mean – "

"They managed to find a plutonium sample," said my father. "They now have all the materials they need to put together a nuclear missile. If we don't move to stop them immediately, there may be no life left on Earth."


	13. And Hell Rode with Him

Chapter Twelve

In the end, everything came down to love. Love – or a lack of it – was what made people do what they did. It was the single most powerful driving force in a person's mind. Love could inspire people to do things they never thought themselves capable of. Love could lead a person to give their own life in order for another to survive. Love was beautiful; love was perfect and pure. In some ways it was so simple, yet in other ways it was the most complicated force that existed on the planet. Was it simply a chemical attraction or a biological process between two people? Could it be quantified in scientific terms? Was there something higher involved? 

It was love that had shaped my life up to this point. Love for Marina had sent me to join the Brotherhood to prevent the same thing happening to anybody else. Love for Cassandra had kept me fighting daily to protect our kind. Love for Annie had made me stop thinking of the X-Men as enemies. I knew I loved all three of them and would be willing to die to save any of them. Obviously I hoped it would never come to that, but if circumstances demanded, I was prepared to sacrifice myself for my three angels.

If love had shaped my life, was it a lack of love that had made our enemies into what they were? Was Recyclo, who had never known it during his ten years of torment, now utterly incapable of experiencing it? Was that why he wanted to kill so badly? And the Horsemen? It seemed clear that they loved nobody but themselves, if they were indeed ready to annihilate everything in the world for their own benefit. Was life simply a struggle between good and evil, between those who knew love and those who didn't? Was evil simply a lack of caring about anyone other than yourself? I knew that when love was stolen or ripped away then there could be no replacing its loss. I remembered how I had felt when I thought Marina was dead. Love couldn't ever be destroyed, but in the same way it could never really be consciously created either. Nobody knew exactly where it came from.

As I stood now in the infirmary, watching over the seemingly lifeless forms of those I had once called enemies, I was witnessing love of another kind. Since arriving at the mansion, Gemini had not left Pyro's side for an instant. Initially shocked and horrified at seeing his radiation-sickened form, she was now distraught at not being able to touch him, to hold him, to be close to him and whisper her private feelings to him. I knew it was love that was making her do this, love for the father figure who had rescued her and protected her over the last few years. I knew she wanted him back on his feet more than anything else, and I knew she would have given her life if it were necessary to save his.

I sighed. I felt so restless. With the situation as desperate as it was, I wanted to do something – anything – to set it right again. Unfortunately, until Dad and Chris had finished working out the exact location of the Horsemen's base, there was nothing I could do. Nothing, except push down the ever-growing fears of a nuclear missile being launched at any minute because we hadn't been quick enough to stop it. I knew they were working as fast as they could. I knew there was no point in hanging around and making them any more tense than they already were, so I had left them in peace. I had set out with no particular goal in mind, and my feet had taken me down here, to the infirmary. Gemini had, for about the eighteenth time, asked for reassurance that Pyro would be all right.

I decided to leave her with him. She probably wanted to be alone. As close as the two of us had become, we weren't quite close enough for me to intrude on her private feelings for the father she wanted to have. Heading upstairs, I stopped at one of the windows and peered out into what was now the early morning light. A group of children, some of the youngest in the school, were playing together on the grass. Acceleratus was among them. It was amazing how quickly she had been accepted by her peers here, and how readily she had accepted it herself. Friendship with those her own age was the one thing we hadn't been able to give her on the island, and was probably one of the things she needed the most.

Seeing the children playing together: happy; innocent; carefree…it made me sad for a moment. What if we weren't successful? What if the Horsemen couldn't be stopped? What if there was no tomorrow? What if these children were spending their last hours of life together? What if they never had the chance to grow up and live their lives? How could so much pure, innocent life be snuffed out by the madness of two demonic monstrosities? I felt a little uneasy for a moment as I considered how my own attitude appeared in that respect. Was I really willing to kill all of humanity so that mutants could live on? Wasn't that exactly the same thing that Famine and Death were doing? We had used a virus, they were using nuclear winter – what was the difference? I sighed. There wasn't one. Was I every bit as bad as the Horsemen? What right did I have to decide what they could and couldn't be allowed to do?

No. There was a difference. The difference was that I had learned from my mistake, and I was going to correct it. My determination renewed, I looked out of the window once more, watching the children with a lighter heart and a smile on my face. These little ones were going to survive. They were going to have the chance to grow up and live their lives the way they saw fit. Maybe they would love humans, maybe they would hate them – there was no way of knowing which. We simply had to let them grow up and hope that they turned out for the best. Human children were the same. Perhaps they would never like us, but they had to be given the chance.

When I heard my father's telepathic voice in my mind, I knew it was time.

_Everybody come to the briefing room_, Oculus sent.

I turned away from the window and the obliviously carefree youngsters, and headed for the briefing room. I was one of the first to arrive, and we waited for the others to get there. The rest of the Brotherhood arrived in a group; it was obvious they were not comfortable with being here. Only Cassandra was beginning to warm to Annie and her friends. I smiled at Marina when I saw her enter the room, and she gave me a little nervous smile in response. She made as if to walk across the room towards me, but Shock put a gentle hand on her arm and guided her to the other side of the room. Annie and Cassandra arrived together, and they joined me. Once we were all assembled, Dad began.

"All right," he said. "We've found them. There's an abandoned military complex in the hills not far from the coast. It was once a test launching platform for space rockets, so presumably the Horsemen have simply scavenged the existing launching mechanisms for their own ends."

Shapeshifter hit a few keys on the computer in front of him, and a 3D model of the complex was projected on to the table in front of my father.

"The first problem is getting inside," said Oculus. "There's only one entrance, and given the terrain it's unlikely we'll find any others. The old security systems should still work, and we can only assume the Horsemen are using them. If, as we suspect, Recyclo has joined them, then his electronic expertise will no doubt have been used to enhance the security grid."

"Have you worked out a way in?" asked Helios.

"As I see it, there are two options," Dad answered. "Either we take what force we have in this room – which _is_ considerable – and launch an all-out attack on the complex. That isn't a good idea. Even if we interrupt their construction of the missile, the Horsemen can always set off the nuclear reaction manually, as it were. In other words, we can't let them know we're there, or they'll detonate the plutonium right inside the facility."

"What's the second option?" asked Vertigo, standing his arms folded and acting as the leader for the small group around him.

Shapeshifter answered this time, "I don't know just how good Recyclo is, but I think – no, I'm certain – I've discovered a hole in their security network. I can take down their intrusion mechanisms without them being aware of it, but not for long."

"How long?"

"A matter of seconds, I'm afraid. It would get us in undetected, but we'd only have enough time for two at the most to get inside."

Oculus added, "I don't know whether two people would be able to deactivate the missile and destroy the Horsemen, but it's our only option."

"In that case, I would be one of the two people," I said quickly, before anybody else could get in.

"I would be the other," said Annie.

Cassandra looked horrified, and Gaia protested instantly, "No! I won't let my children – "

She tailed off and looked pleadingly at Dad. He said nothing. For a few moments nobody spoke. It seemed, to me at least, that Annie and I were the clear and obvious choice. I knew that none of the others lacked the courage or the will, but in terms of power we had no equals, except of course each other.

"If you are willing to do this," said Dad, fighting to keep his natural misgivings out of his voice. "You must leave immediately."

"I'm ready," I said, standing.

"What are the rest of us going to do?" asked Shock.

"We have to do whatever we can to prepare the world for a nuclear holocaust," said Oculus. "While I have every confidence that Annie and Gary will succeed – we must still take every precaution against, uh, against the alternative."

A small tear rolled down my mother's cheek as she whispered softly, "May God be with us."

There was not enough time to speak to all of them, to say goodbye, to say all the things I would have wanted to say if I might never see them again. I wanted to tell Cassandra I loved her; I wanted to tell Marina I would come back to her; I wanted to tell my parents that I would never forget all things they had told me; I wanted to tell Gemini and Acceleratus that I loved them too; I wanted to share one last joke with the guys – particularly Helios and Vertigo; I wanted to say much more than I had time for. We had no time. We left immediately.

"It should take us about fifteen minutes to get there," said Annie, as she programmed the course into the jet's flight computer.

I was still fiddling with the sleeves of the uniform Annie had given me. My initial reaction had been disgust and instant refusal to even touch an X-Man uniform, but Annie had insisted it would provide at least basic protection against Death's radiation attack. I'd pointed out it hadn't done Cyclops and the others much good, but she'd countered that maybe it was the only thing that had kept them alive. So I had given into her reasoning and worn it anyway. I was just glad Cassandra and Gemini hadn't seen me wearing it.

"Annie…" I began hesitantly. "Can we do it? I volunteered because I know I'm the strongest we have – except maybe you – but are we strong enough? After what Dad said about the Horsemen…how are we going to stop them?"

"Our first priority has to be to destroy their missile," she said. "Killing them can come second. The last thing we want is to get caught up in a fight with Pestilence or War while Death and Famine launch the missile."

"Good start," I agreed. "But we _do_ have to kill them, don't we? If we don't, they'll just start all this again."

"It would be best, but it won't be easy."

"I know. OK, here's my plan. I'll distract them while you disarm the missile."

"You want to keep me out of the fight. You want to protect me."

"Of course I do. You're – you're my angel."

Annie smiled, "Gary, I'm not an angel. I was going to suggest the opposite: I'll keep them busy while _you_ try to extract the nuclear device. I can use my telekinesis to hold them still – at least, I hope I can."

"I dunno…I'd rather you didn't – "

"Gary, you know you're only saying that because I'm a girl. If I was Helios or Vertigo you wouldn't be telling me to keep out of danger, would you? 

"No, but – well, like I said, you're my angel."

"I don't need protecting, Gary. You know that."

I sighed, and looked out of the side view-port, watching the landscape passing by underneath. Eventually I looked over at Annie once more and said, "It feels strange, doesn't it, to be fighting on the same side? I remember when I thought you and the X-Men were the single biggest threat to mutant survival. Looking back, our previous fight just seems – I don't know – kind of insignificant compared to what we're facing now."

"Yes. The Horsemen were lucky to strike at a time when our people and yours were too busy worrying about what each other were doing. If we'd been allied, if we'd been working together from the start, it might never have come to this."

"Do you think the alliance will last?"

"I hope so. It depends what Pyro wants. I think the rest of your people will follow his decision, whatever it might be."

I frowned, "I don't see him changing his mind over the humans."

"Pyro's fighting out of a sense of anger, out of the agony of his loss."

"He had a friend once – "

"Yes. Mum and Dad told me about her. He's never recovered from losing her. He's never forgiven the humans."

"I was the same when I thought Marina was dead."

"Yes. You're like Pyro in a lot of ways."

"But will he change his mind?"

Annie frowned, "It seems unlikely. There is one person who could change his mind, but I don't know if it will happen."

Before I could say more, the flight computer began beeping, and Annie turned her attention to it. Hitting a switch or two, she said, "OK, we're coming up on the site. I'm activating the cloak."

She hit another switch.

"Where are we going to land?" I said.

"As close as I can get. Hold on, I'm taking us down."

_God, be with us_, I prayed, _watch over us and protect us. Protect Annie. Please keep her safe._

I could see the Horsemen's complex as nothing more than a dark shape among the hills; it wasn't until we got closer that I could make out more detail. It nestled in the cleft between two hills, protected on three sides by the natural rock formation. On its fourth side was only one entrance – this would be the way by which we would enter. I wondered what had made them choose this particular site. Was it the remoteness? Was it the convenience of an existing launching mechanism? Had it been a completely arbitrary choice? I didn't know.

Annie touched down, and we hurried down the ramp, leaving the jet and approaching the complex on foot. We weren't far away, and we kept as close to the rocks as we could, to avoid being seen. As we got closer, we moved more cautiously, Annie projecting out with her mind to sense anybody who might be on guard. When we were standing less than ten yards away from the entrance, hidden behind a large rocky outcropping, she telepathed to me, _the entrance seems clear. I was afraid somebody would be waiting inside, but there's nobody. I'll call Chris and tell him to open the door._ She reached for the communicator at her belt, programmed in the frequency and spoke into it, "We're ready. Count down from ten on my mark and open the door at zero. Mark. Gary, let's go."

We hurried towards the entrance, counting down from ten in our heads, and the door opened precisely as I counted zero. Slipping inside as quickly as we could, the door snapped shut behind us not a moment later. There was no way of opening it without the Horsemen finding out now. There was no going back. We would either succeed here or die here.

I looked at Annie, "Which way?"

She pointed left, "This way. Move quietly; we can't afford to be detected."

I pulled off one my gloves, "Here, hold my hand."

"Why?"

"Annie, just do it."

They were the same words she herself had used, and my sister looked at me a little confused as she took off one of her gloves and put her hand inside mine, her fingers curling around my palm. Concentrating hard, I called upon my camouflage to hide us. It spread across my body, changing each of my cells into the appearance of whatever lay behind, until I had entirely blended into my environment. Once my body was in a chameleonic state, my power passed into Annie's body and proceeded to hide her too.

"Good idea," she said appreciatively, when she realised what I had done. "How long can you maintain this?"

"As long as I can keep my concentration. If I get too angry or too scared it might drop."

"This will help us avoid the Horsemen and go straight for their missile. Let's go."

Still holding hands, we hurried along the narrow darkened corridor, heading further into the complex. I knew Annie had to be pushing out with her mind, trying to sense anybody we might be getting too close to. For the first few minutes of our mission, we didn't encounter anybody. So far so good, it seemed. Once the missile was taken out of commission, we'd have to find the Horsemen and kill them, otherwise they would just start again with another missile. We knew there was no hope of convincing them to abandon their plans. They had to be destroyed. 

Annie brought us to a halt suddenly, and I waited as she scanned the building ahead with her X-ray eyesight.

_Stay quiet_, she telepathed.

I nodded my understanding, then realised Annie couldn't see me. It didn't matter; she would read my acknowledgement from my thoughts. Obviously somebody was coming. We moved into the shadows by the wall, and I prepared myself for whoever might be approaching. They shouldn't be able to see us, so we should be able to avoid conflict if necessary.

It was Pestilence who appeared from the doorway ahead of us. He looked both ways, hissed to himself, then scuttled down the corridor past us.

_He must be on guard_, came Annie's mind, _he's following a patrol route_.

_Where are the rest of them_? I thought into my own mind.

Annie read my thoughts and responded, _I don't know. I can't sense them, and the interior of the complex is too dark for me to see anything. I'm guessing Death and Famine don't need light to see._

_Annie, how are we going to kill them?_

_I don't know. We can think about it later. Come on._

Together we hurried forward and through the door Pestilence had just appeared from. After a minute or two we came across a lift on our right. Annie put out her other hand to stop me, and I heard her mind, _we have to use the lift. The nuclear device will be in the nosecone of the rocket. We're going to have to take the lift up, then climb to the very top of the launching platform_.

_Lead the way_.

We took the elevator up as far as it would go, and stepped on to what I guessed was the fourth or fifth floor. We found ourselves in a huge circular room, which was almost entirely taken up a mass of complex machinery and, right at the centre, a long silver shape that pointed skyward and was all too easily recognisable. The machinery around the missile had to be the launching apparatus. My gaze travelled upwards, to the very tip of the missile. Above was what looked like a retractable roof, which was presumably designed to open whenever a launch took place. The fact that it was currently closed was a small relief. Hopefully they weren't planning on launching it any time in the immediate future.

"How do we get up there?" I whispered.

_I can levitate up there_, she said.

_Right. In that case I stay down here and cover you._

Annie didn't reply immediately, then she squeezed my hand slightly and said, _all right. You'll have to stop camouflaging me. I just hope they don't spot me right away._

_Go for it. Good luck!_

I released her hand, and I felt apprehension sinking over me as Annie became visible once more. She looked up at the tip of the rocket, and lifted her hand to begin levitating herself upwards. I watched her go, then I decided I would be best to scan the room for any signs of danger. I couldn't see any signs of movement. If we hadn't seen Pestilence earlier, I might have begun to doubt the Horsemen were even here. Whereabouts in the facility were they? What were they doing? Were they so confident in themselves that they hadn't considered the possibility of an intrusion? I didn't know. I could only hope that – 

Annie's telepathy interrupted my thoughts, _Gary__, stay alert_! _I think they've spotted me – _

It was when the painfully bright light snapped into life that I realised we had walked into a trap. Annie screamed in agony as the light burned into her eyes; she lost control of her telekinetic power and began falling towards the floor. My camouflage dropping in my panic, I ran across the room to catch her before she hit the ground. My sister landed in my arms, knocking me to the floor, but at least she was still alive.

I heard a noise like a _swick_, and a knife embedded itself in my shoulder. It might have hit my heart if I hadn't been thrown off balance by grabbing Annie. My eyes screwed up against the light, I squinted around the room in desperation, trying to gauge where the next attack might come from. Annie still had her hands over her eyes, sobbing in pain, howling, "Turn off the lights!"

Scrambling to my feet, I half-carried, half-dragged my sister behind the partial cover of one of the pieces of launching machinery. Pulling the knife from my arm, I threw it to the floor, and tried to camouflage myself again. It wasn't working. I could hear footsteps hurrying in our direction. The only piece of good news was that my eyes were beginning to adjust to the strong light. It was coming from a large reflector dish positioned on the wall. Its function was obvious: to put Annie out of the fight. With that light in place she couldn't open her eyes, not even for a second. 

The footsteps came to a halt as Pestilence appeared in the corner of my vision. Drawing back his head, I knew the insectoid was about to spit acid at me. I was already moving to avoid him, and the corrosive wad splattered into the side of the missile behind me. Pestilence brought up his claws as I neared him, but he wasn't fast enough. My fist smacked into his hideous demonic face, flinging him through the air away from me. I barely had time to draw breath before an angry grunt behind me and a fist closing around my neck announced the arrival of War. I twisted, kicked, and knocked him away from me.

"Finish him…" came the icy cold voice of Death. "Hades, begin the launch. Begin the Apocalypse…"

Pestilence was back on his feet and slashing angrily with his claws, forcing me backwards. Glancing behind me, I saw War reaching for Annie's helpless form. Anger coursed through my veins as I ran to my sister's side, aiming at a punch at the giant. War was faster than he looked, and he reacted to grab me around the waist and slam my entire body into the side of the rocket. I smacked a punch into his face but he didn't appear to notice. Pestilence spat, and a gob of acid hit me in the back. I gasped at the unusual sensation of pain. Unfortunately for them it only served to make me more angry. Thoughts of Marina, of Cassandra, of Gemini, of everybody I was fighting to protect, passed through my mind, raising my fury even further, and pushing me into a berserk rage.

I grabbed War around the throat and my muscles tightened as I squeezed. His eyes bulged and his own grip around me increased as he fought desperately to pull me away from him. Pestilence's claws stabbed into my back, ripping into my skin and drawing blood. I felt the pain once more, and I reacted in anger again, whipping my foot round in a vicious kick towards the insectoid. It hit him in the throat, snapping his neck cleanly and hurling him across the length of the room. His body smashed into the giant reflector dish and fell lifeless to the floor. War's movements became more and more wild as he struggled to breathe. He frantically began to pull at my arms, trying to yank them from his throat. It was a test of strength now, and one he had just lost. His arms slumped to his sides and his gigantic body fell limp as I finally crushed his windpipe.

Two Horsemen down, two to go. I hurried to Annie's side. She was on her feet, eyes tight shut, but she turned towards me as I approached, "Gary! Put the light out! Quickly, or I can't help you!"

"Right!"

I looked around for some way I might switch off or destroy the huge dish. It appeared to be held in place by a set of large screws, but Pestilence colliding with it seemed to have knocked it slightly off centre. It had obviously been set up quite hurriedly, and looked to be rather precariously balanced. Could I knock it loose? At that moment a computerised voice spoke from a loudspeaker somewhere above me, "Attention, all personnel evacuate the launching room. Launching commences in ten minutes."

"Shit!" I swore. "Annie, hold on!"

The computer voice had to be a leftover from when this had been a NASA installation. I had no time to think about where the remaining Horsemen might be. I had to get the light out of commission before the five minutes were up. Then Annie could disarm the missile while I fought off the last of our enemies. I hurried across to the reflector dish, and tried to think of a plan to dislodge it. It had to be at least six feet above my head and there was no way I could reach it. Was there something I could stand on? I looked round, spotting an anonymous piece of machinery that I should be able to lug over. I dragged it towards the dish, and climbed on top. Now I could reach it. Grabbing the huge silver disc, I ripped it free of its holdings, and flung it aside. It crashed on to the floor and broke into several pieces. I heard Annie giving a relieved gasp.

"Launching commences in nine minutes," came the computerised voice.

I jumped down and ran over to where Annie was looking up at the tip of the missile.

"Can you get up there and disarm it?" I asked.

She shook her head, "Not now that the launch sequence has been started. We have to find whatever control mechanism they're using, and abort the launch."

"I killed Pestilence and War."

"Yes, I know. Where are the others?"

"I don't know. I heard Death's voice a couple of minutes ago. And I think Recyclo is here too."

"We have to find the controls for the missile. The plan Shapeshifter showed us didn't go into that much detail, but I think…yes…I think we should go this way."

There was a doorway at the other end of the missile silo, and we hurried over towards it. Seconds before we got there, a thick metal plate slid out of a recess in the wall to block the doorway.

"Damn it!" Annie cried. "The doors must be wired into the security system! Recyclo must be trying to block our way!"

"If he wants to block us, at least it means we're going the right way," I said, running my hands over the surface of the door. "Do you know how to get it open?"

Annie shook her head, "It must have been designed as a shield to protect the rest of the facility against the heat and flame that would be generated when a rocket was launched. I don't see any way of opening it from here."

"We have to get it open! We have to get through!"

Annie looked through the walls in front of us, scanning what was beyond, and she said suddenly, "I see Recyclo! He's in a room with banks of computers and other machinery! I think the missile controls must be there!"

I slammed my shoulder into the heavily reinforced door with all the strength I could muster. It buckled slightly but did not give. Annie lifted her hand to hurl a piece of machinery into the door at high speed. The metal surface again bowed, but remained intact. I threw myself at the door again, and this time it bent considerably out of shape. This time Annie managed to get a grip on it with her telekinesis, and she tore it free.

"Launching commences in eight minutes."

Determined to stop the missile at all costs, I hurried through the open doorway with Annie right behind me.

"Turn right!" I heard her saying, and I went that way.

Famine stood in our way, blocking the narrow corridor that led to the control room. The skeletoid's face twisted into a demonic smile as he walked forward, ready to do battle.

"Don't let him touch your skin!" I warned my sister. 

"I know, I know! I'll try and distract him – you try and get past!"

"No, I'll fight him and you – "

Our argument was forestalled as Famine approached, his arm raising, his bony, pointed fingers reaching towards us, ready to absorb our powers. Trying to stay light on my feet, I stepped to the side and slammed my gloved fist into his jaw. Famine rocked slightly on his heels but didn't stop walking, his hand brushing against my arm as he clawed towards my exposed face. Annie took hold of him with a telekinetic lock and threw him into the wall. He collided with it and fell to the floor, but rose instantly, without showing even the slightest sign of pain. This was not good. I had hoped that what Dad had told us about him was not true, but in my heart I had never doubted it. 

"What are we going to do?" I asked Annie.

"I told you, I'll keep him busy and you run past."

"No, other way round!"

"All right, _fine_!" she snapped. "Distract him!"

Famine was on us once more, and I made straight for him, hoping to give Annie the chance to slip past. Grabbing the skeletoid around the mid-section, I spun and prepared to hurl him back the way we had just come. With impossible strength, he twisted out of my grip and kicked me aside. I fell backwards against the wall, my breath knocked out of me. Famine reached out with both skeletal arms and grabbed Annie around the neck. My sister screamed, but her scream turned into a soundless gasp as he began to suck her powers. She sagged weakly in his grip, and Famine threw back his head in rejoice as Annie's powers flooded into his body.

With a roar of anger I grabbed him from behind with rage-enhanced strength, pulling him away from my sister. A huge jolt, something like an electric shock, hit me and I was thrown on to my back. My head spun and my vision swam, and for the merest moment I felt as if I was in another place – almost as if I was in another body. I felt small and weak, horribly weak, in a body full of sensations that were completely unknown to me. I looked up to see Famine with his back to me, reaching down towards an unmoving figure on the floor. Then, as if it had never happened, the strange sensation was gone and I was myself again. Famine's hands were almost on my neck as I forced my weakened body to twist aside and away from him. From the ground I kicked out at the skeleton, knocking him off balance.

I struggled to stand. I was weak, tired, slow, and sluggish, and I knew why. Famine's absorption had robbed me of my strength. It would recover in time, but in the meantime things were not looking good.

"Launching commences in seven minutes," came the voice from a speaker on the wall.

"You can't stop the Apocalypse," Famine wheezed triumphantly. "It cannot be stopped. It is inevitable."

"You're wrong!" I yelled, charging straight towards him.

Even as I did, I knew how stupid it was. Using the powers he had stolen from me, Famine vanished from my sight and a jet of flame was hurled through the air towards me. I ducked as best I could, but the flames singed my shoulder and I stumbled for a moment. Even as I tried to rally, some invisible force gripped my body and I felt myself rising into the air. For a moment I didn't know what was happening, then I knew what it was: Famine, using the telekinetic power he had stolen from Annie.

_God, help us_, I prayed.

At this moment it seemed a heavenly miracle was our only hope. With Famine, who was already seemingly immortal, in possession of all eight of our powers, this fight seemed unwinnable. Not since the death of Christ had any being with so much power walked the Earth. My body was flipped over in mid-air and I heard the skeletoid laughing. He was toying with me.

"Let him go." 

I heard Annie speaking but I could hear the weakness and fatigue plain in her voice. Famine didn't even respond, and casually sent me flying into the wall. I cried out as I hit; the pain was getting intense now, and I tried to regain control, but my body wasn't having any of it. Annie was on her feet and moving towards the skeleton. I fought once more to escape from his telekinetic lock, and I felt his control slipping as my own strength began to return. With another twist of my body, I managed to break free, falling to the ground and inducing yet more pain. I ignored it, rising to my feet and running straight towards Famine. My only hope was to catch him off balance. I had enough experience with the camouflage mutation that I could make out his shape. I inhaled as I ran, and breathed a jet of flame directly at him.

His body caught fire but he didn't appear to be harmed by it. Was there nothing that could hurt this man? Was there nothing we could do? Were we destined to die here, defeated by a foe who was simply too powerful, even for the two of us? Was this the end, the end of humanity and the end of mutantkind?

Perhaps he was bothered by the sensation of the fire, but for whatever reason Famine was not immediately retaliating to my attack. Annie was still hurrying towards him, and she took advantage of his momentary distraction to grab him around the throat.

"Annie, what are you – "

If there was a better recipe for suicide, I didn't know what it was. Had my sister gone mad? Was she so dismayed by the hopelessness of the situation that she simply wanted to take the quickest and easiest way out? No. I knew Annie would never do that, but what did she hope to accomplish? What was she – 

My ears were suddenly assaulted by the last sound I had expected to hear. From Famine's mouth came a terrible high-pitched gasp of pain, followed by another, long and drawn out. What was happening? Famine's invisibility had dropped and I could see him clearly now, his face twisted in agony, his skeletal figures reaching helplessly to pull himself free, as Annie closed her eyes and increased whatever power she was using. Famine struggled, tried to pull away, but Annie held on with a strength I didn't know she possessed. With a final terrible shriek Famine gave way, and his already-flaming body burst into a shower of fire and ash. A second passed, and Annie was slumping to the ground, and a few flaming piles of soot were all that remained of the third Horseman.

"Annie!" I cried, kneeling by my sister and cradling her body. "What happened? What did you _do_?"

She looked up at me weakly, and gasped in pain, "Oh – my healing power – it killed him – "

"It did what? But how did you know? How did you know it would – ?"

"Oh – a guess – a prayer – and some reading of Recyclo's mind – "

"Launching commences in five minutes," said the computer.

"Are you all right?" I asked her. "Can you stand? We have to keep going!"

"I'll – I'll be OK," she said, though she didn't sound like it. "He took a lot out of me. Help me up."

I helped her stand, and we hurried along the corridor as fast as she could go.

"Something weird happened back there," I said. "Just as he was sucking your powers. I grabbed him, and – and something weird happened."

"I know. I felt it too. I don't know what it was exactly, but – we don't have any time to worry about it now. Turn left here."

She stumbled slightly and I supported her as we hurried around the corner.

"The control room – at the end of the corridor. I – Gary, look out!"

Annie pushed me to safety as a shape appeared in my peripheral vision, and Death's ghostly form stalked out of the shadows, a terrible chalk-white radioactive hand appearing from within the folds of his cloak.

"I'll handle him!" Annie cried. "Go, Gary! Don't hang about, _go_!"

This time I didn't argue. I went. Looking back one last time at my sister, tired and weak-looking, facing the black-garbed leader of the Horsemen, I hurried inside the control room. I looked around its interior in desperation. Recyclo sat with his back to me, typing away at one of the computers. Where were the missile controls? There were banks of switches, control panels and computer terminals, none of which I knew the function of. Was the launching system computer-controlled? Did I have to try each of the terminals one by one until I found the right one?

"How can you be here?"

He had spotted me. Recyclo was rising from his chair, both hands opening to reveal throwing knives. With a flick of both wrists he sent them skimming through the air towards me. I did my best to duck, avoiding one of the blades, but the second one caught me in the left arm. Unfamiliar pain shot through my system once more, and I struggled to remain in control. The psychopath was keeping his distance, and his recycling power created two new blades in his hands.

"Why are you working with the Horsemen?" I cried. "Don't you understand what they're trying to do?"

"I am one of the Horsemen. I am Hades. I am the Fifth. I ride with Death."

"Don't you realise what you're doing?!" I yelled. "When that nuclear missile hits, it's going to destroy every living thing on the planet! Including _you_!"

"Of course I realise that," he snarled. "I don't care! Do you think I enjoy my life? At least I can die safe in the knowledge that all those who made me suffer will go with me!"

"You don't have to destroy the whole world just to kill a few people!"

He made no reply. His feelings of anger and memories of suffering were so intense that I could almost feel them myself, the haunting imprint of ten years at the mercy of barbarous human scientists.

"Launching commences in four minutes," came the warning.

Recyclo hurled his next two blades, but I dived to the side and managed to avoid them. I'd bought myself a few seconds before his next attack, and I looked around hurriedly for some clue as to where the missile launching controls might be found. There! That had to be them! A control panel, twice as large as any of the others, was positioned just in front of a thick Plexiglas window that looked down into the missile silo. I ran over towards them, but Recyclo saw my intention and moved to cut me off, another two blades forcing me to duck behind one of the computer terminals.

"Isn't there anybody you care about?" I cried. "Isn't there even one person you don't want to see killed? Pyro? Gemini? Vertigo?"

Recyclo didn't respond. I tried again, "How about Helios?"

"My brother…"

"Do you really want to kill him?"

I sensed I had finally got through to him. An internal struggle was raging in his mind, and I took advantage of his confusion to steal a few yards closer to the missile controls.

"Launching commences in three minutes. Warning. Warning. Clear missile silo. Clear missile silo. Ensure shielding is in place."

Recyclo still didn't seem to be making any moves, so I took a chance and began running at full speed towards the controls. Hopefully I could find the right switch to abort the launch before he could hit me with any blades.

"Wait!" Recyclo shouted as my hand neared the switch I had identified as the most likely candidate.

Something in his voice made me pause, and I turned. There was something in his right hand, and I braced myself to avoid a knife throw. Then I stopped. It wasn't a blade. It was a glass tube – a laboratory test tube – filled with a clear, pale blue liquid. I knew what I had to be. The antidote. The cure to the Plague that had been developed by my father.

For a moment I thought I had convinced him. I thought I had got through to his tortured mind and convinced him to stop the nuclear missile for Helios' sake. I thought he was about to hand me the antidote and let me abort the launch. But it seemed I was wrong. In a strange sort of way I could sense the way his mind was working; the anger and the hate had won out over the sadness and the suffering. He smiled – a cruel, demonic smile – as he tossed the glass test tube across the length of the room.

Even as I was desperately diving towards it, knowing I had no chance of getting there in time, Recyclo was already hurrying towards the launch controls, to guard them and prevent me from using them. It was as if time slowed down around me: I could see a blade appearing in his left hand as he prepared to flick it towards me; I could see the tube of blue life-saving fluid, arcing through the air and dropping towards the floor; I could see that it was going to hit the floor and smash into a thousand pieces before I could reach it. There was nothing I could do.

Inside me I felt a power erupting, a power that I had never known before. It was as if some sort of _will_ spoke from my thoughts and latched on to the falling shape of the test tube. My mind overwhelmed by this strange sensation, I struggled to focus. For a moment it felt like my mind was reaching out like some physical force and grabbing the antidote. 

_Here_, spoke my mind.

The test tube flew through the air and into the palm of my left hand. Even as the impossibility of it registered in my brain, I heard Recyclo screaming, "_What_?!"

I turned, struggled to my feet and faced him. Standing not ten feet away from me, his face lined with confusion, suspicion and hate, he flicked two knives at my throat. I knew I had no hope of dodging them. Before I knew what I was doing, my empty right hand was raising.

_Stop_, my mind commanded.

The knives stopped in mid-air and fell on to the floor.

"Launching commences in one minute."

I was already running towards the launch controls and Recyclo was backing away, fear taking over his mind and forcing a retreat. Out of the corner of my eye I could see through the window into the missile silo. The rockets were beginning to fire, the fuel burning and a slow steady fire seeping out of the butt of the missile. The heat in the room had to be rising incredibly high. Even as this thought registered in my mind, one of the pieces of machinery in the missile silo exploded, presumably from overheating, shaking the control room in which we stood and hurling pieces of equipment and computers across the room. Recyclo screamed as he was buried underneath a pile of falling machinery. I took my opportunity, smashing my fist down on what I sincerely hoped was the missile abort switch.

"Launching commences in thirty sec – "

For a moment or so there was silence, then the words I wanted to hear, "Launch aborted."

I sagged with relief, clutching tightly the antidote in my left hand. Tired and in pain as I was, I knew I had no time to sit and rest. There was still Death. I hurried to the exit, looking for my sister. Even as I saw her, I knew it was too late. Death had his hand around her neck and she hung limply in his grasp, his radioactive power destroying her body.

"Annie, _no_!" I screamed in horror.

The cloaked figure turned to face me, twin blue eyes staring out of the hood in my direction. Annie stirred, perhaps raised into action by hearing my voice, and I felt her anger rising as she forced herself to make one last fight. My sister screamed, rage flowing through her, and she did something she had never done before, something she wasn't supposed to be able to do. She went berserk. Her hands grabbed hold of Death's with a sudden strength, and she closed her eyes and called upon the power that had killed Famine. To her, to me, and to the rest of our friends, it was a healing power. To the radiation-enhanced mutants, it was lethal. An icy gasp came from the cloaked Horseman and I knew it had to be killing him. At the same time, of course, his power was killing Annie. It was just a question of who could hold on the longest. For a moment I couldn't tell who was winning. Then it became clear. Annie's berserk power had amplified the force of her attack far beyond anything Death could conjure in response. The ghostly shape emitted one last icy, ear-splitting shriek, then he vanished, exploding into a cloud of ash in the same way Famine had done. Annie fell and did not move.

"No!" I cried. "Annie!"

I ran to her side.

_Don't touch me_, she telepathed weakly, _I'm irradiated. I'm dead…_

"Annie…"I sobbed.

_Goodbye, __Gary__. The world is yours now…_

"No, you can't die…"

_I love you…_

I didn't care about the irradiation. I didn't care if it would kill me. There was only one thing in the world I wanted to do at that moment. I took my sister's dying body in my arms and hugged her for the last time.

_No…_her mind begged, _you'll kill yourself…_

On some level I could feel the radiation poisoning passing into my body, destroying my cells as it went. Annie was too weak to heal. I knew there was nothing I could do.

Or was there? Perhaps…perhaps we were not dead…

I didn't know how it was supposed to work, so I let instinct take control and I did what felt naturally. It started at the heart, she had always told me. Yes…that felt good. It was working. I was doing it. From my heart spread the healing power that I had seen Annie use so many times, passing through my body and stopping the radiation in its path, repairing the damaged cells almost as quickly as they had been attacked. Then it passed into Annie. She was as near to death as I had ever seen a living person, and I wasn't sure at first whether there was enough of her to bring back.

There was. Her body tightly pressed against me, I could feel her heartbeat increasing and warmth returning to her skin. Annie gasped and clutched hold of me as she regained consciousness, and the last of the radiation was overcome.

"Gary…" she gasped, her breath coming quickly. "I – I don't understand…what did you _do_?"

"I healed us. I don't understand how. I've been using your powers and I don't know how…"

"I've been using yours too…"

"But how – ?"

She breathed deeply and rested in my arms, "Wait, I – I think I know what happened. Do you remember when Famine was stealing my powers?"

"Yes."

"You grabbed hold of him and pulled us apart…but for the smallest time he was acting as a conduit between the two of us."

"You mean – "

"I think he inadvertently pulled your powers into me, and mine into you."

I frowned, "Would that work?"

"I don't know. We can ask Rogue. But it makes sense, and there's no other explanation for what happened. I felt a jolt, and for a moment I wasn't in my own body any more…"

"I felt that too. I left my body and went into another."

"Yes. Mine. You were in me and I was in you."

"What?" I asked.

"When Rogue touches someone she doesn't just absorb their powers; there's a tiny bit of their consciousness left inside her as well. If Famine had the same power, the same thing would have happened. Only in this case, it happened to us."

"So there's a tiny part of you inside me?" I asked.

"Yes. And a tiny part of _you_ inside _me_. Gary, what happened with Recyclo? Did you stop the launch?"

I nodded, and opened my hand to reveal the antidote. Annie sighed with relief, and the two of us held each other close. In a way it felt different from all the times I had hugged my sister before. Now there was something else, a feeling unknown to me, to both of us. Part of her was inside me now…I could feel it…I could feel it when we came together and touched…we were not just two people any more…we were more like two minds, sharing two bodies.

I held my sister tightly, my relief and my joy pouring out of me. She was alive. For a horrible few seconds that felt more like a few years, I had thought she was dead. I could barely begin to comprehend the pain and anguish that would have come with her death, in a life without Annie. I couldn't even bring myself to think how it would have felt if it had become permanent, to know that she was gone, that nothing could ever bring her back, and that I would never see her again. I'd had my very first inkling of the terrible sorrow that had to be eating at Marina's heart every waking second of her life. I could only imagine the agony that was her life. She didn't have to. She was living it. I knew there was only one choice I could make now. I felt a single tear dropping out of my eye and into Annie's hair as she nestled her head against my chest. 

_Thank you, God. Thank you for Annie. My sister. My angel._

A/N: as always, there will be an epilogue


	14. Epilogue: Guardian Angels

Epilogue: Guardian Angels

Nobody could quite define what it was, but even when they first arrived back at the mansion, it was obvious that something was different about them. Crusader and Gladiator had changed, there was no doubt about that. What it was that was different, was hard to pin down. They seemed…closer…in some way. Not on an emotional level, but maybe on a subconscious level…almost as if they were sharing minds in some way. They moved, reacted and smiled as one. And there was something else different as well, something in their demeanour. They seemed…distant, perhaps. Aloof. Perhaps even a little sad. Nobody could put their finger on why. Nobody but themselves would ever know exactly what had happened to them in the Horsemen's lair.

"So it's over. The Apocalypse can never be. We're safe."

Annie nodded to her father, "Yes. With the Horsemen gone, I don't see this kind of thing happening again."

"I believe this is yours," said Gary, as he held out something to Oculus.

Neil Rosiçky took the test tube of blue liquid from his son, and regarded it closely for a moment, "Yes, this is the cure. We can start mass production immediately."

"Annie, Gary," said Cyclops. "We can't even begin to thank you for what you've done. In fact the whole world owes you an incalculable debt."

Annie shook her head, "It wasn't just the two of us. It was all of us. Everybody here. Our people – and Pyro's. We can achieve so much more when we are together than when we are apart."

"Will the alliance last?" said Gary.

"I don't know," Cyclops answered. "It depends on Pyro. Where is he, anyway?"

Wolverine spoke up, "I think he went into the woods. That duplicating kid went after him."

* *

He was kneeling on the forest floor with his head bowed when she found him. In front of him was a small cross-shaped gravestone, and this was clearly the object of his attention. Gemini approached cautiously, not wanting to intrude on his private sorrow. Her foot caught on a twig and snapped it. Pyro looked up at the sudden sound, anger crossing his face at the realisation he had been disturbed. When he saw it was Gemini, his features softened and the anger faded.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly. "I didn't mean to – I mean, if you're – maybe I should just go."

He shook his head sadly, "You don't have to."

Reassured that she was not going to get yelled at, Gemini walked around to his side, to see the name on the grave: **JACQUELINE CARTIER**. It was not a name she recognised, but it was obviously somebody who had meant a lot to Pyro.

"Was she a mutant?" the girl asked.

"Yes."

Slowly Gemini knelt down until she was beside him. Pyro made no complaints, so she moved a little closer.

"What was she like?"

Pyro glanced at her. If the question had come from anybody else, he would retorted angrily and told them to mind their own business. Jacqueline was his love, his memory, and he was not willing to share her with anybody else. But coming from Gemini, the question did not bother him. He knew she wasn't just trying to comfort him with empty shallow statements. The question was merely innocent curiosity.

"She was like you in some ways," he told her. "She didn't have an easy childhood either."

"I – I wish I'd known her."

"I wish you could have known her too. I wish she had never died. I wish – " he sighed. " – I wish a lot of things."

"You loved her?"

"Yes. It was the first time I'd felt that way about anybody. I never thought I would ever fall in love. I thought it was one of those things that only happened to other people. I never thought I could feel anything so special."

She knew he was going to continue, so she didn't interrupt. Pyro went on, "It was like a whole new world had been created, for the two of us to share – a world existing inside our hearts, that nobody else could ever intrude on. We didn't know each other very well, but…oh, we knew there was definitely something bringing us together. I don't know what it was exactly. Maybe it was just the way we understood each other. Nobody's ever understood me the way she did. When she died, I – "

Gemini moved closer still and squeezed his hand, letting him know she was there for him. He finished, "She died literally seconds after we declared our love for each other. To me it felt as if I had cursed her unto death. As if true love isn't meant for me, and anybody I do love will die because of it. Maybe that sounds stupid to you, I don't know…"

He stopped. There were no more words. He had opened his heart in one wild rush, and already he was beginning to regret it. He didn't like showing his feelings, certainly not his deepest heartbreaking sorrows. Shaking his head, he said, "After that I just gave up on love. I haven't felt love for anybody since then, and I know for sure nobody's felt it for me."

"_I_ have," she said.

He looked at her in surprise. The fourteen year old Gemini looked back at him innocently.

"You're my protector," she said. "I've always loved you and I've always looked up to you. I always will."

He regarded her with natural suspicion, but the child's eyes held only honesty and her admiration for him. Pyro thought back to the first time he had set eyes on the girl, when he had rescued her from the research laboratory. A tiny, pathetic, shivering little thing, without even the strength to stand on her feet. He remembered her early days on the island, when she had attached herself to him and followed him almost everywhere. He remembered how she would always come to him when she wanted help or when she had hurt herself. He had thought it strange at the time, but perhaps it was just her natural reaction to the one who had rescued her. He had expected her to grow out of it once she hit her teens, but seemingly that was not the case.

Gemini took his hesitation as a sign that he didn't believe her.

"I'm not lying!" she said. "I mean it. Pyro, could – um – could I be your daughter?"

"What?" he responded, surprise putting a harsh edge on his voice.

She interpreted it the wrong way, "Oh, please don't be mad at me! It's just that I – I already feel as if you're my dad. I want you to, well, to feel the same."

He didn't answer right away. He turned to look at the small gravestone once more, remembering again the few blissful moments of love he had shared with Jacqueline before they had been ripped away from him. Eventually he spoke, "I don't think I'll ever love anybody like I loved Jacqueline. I don't think I'll ever fall in love again. I don't think I'll ever have a wife," he moved his hand to gently caress her face, "but that doesn't mean I can't have a daughter."

Gemini's eyes widened with a mixture of surprise and elation, and she put her arms around him, holding him tightly. Pyro reciprocated, slipping his arm around Gemini's small shoulders, feeling the warmth and vitality of the girl who was now his daughter. Inside his heart he found a new mix of feelings – love, protective instincts, paternal affection – feelings he had certainly never had before. Or had he? Had he merely been keeping them bottled up inside because of his refusal to show them, for fear that the curse that had struck Jacqueline might strike somebody else?

"I love you," he heard her sobbing with joy, her head resting against his chest. "I love you so much…"

Then came the word she had been longing to speak for four long years, "…Father."

* * 

He was waiting for her when he arrived back at the mansion. Gemini was still lost in her happiness and it took her a moment to realise he was trying to get her attention.

"Hey!" she smiled.

Vertigo wore his trademark lazy grin, "Hey, Gemini. Helios tells me there's a town a few miles down the road. I was wondering if I could take you out for dinner," he turned to Pyro, "with your father's permission, of course."

Her father nodded his consent. Gemini giggled happily, reached up to give Pyro a little kiss on the cheek, then she and Vertigo began to walk down the path that led to the front gates of the estate. Pyro watched them go. Part of him was happy at seeing his daughter enjoying herself, yet part of him was sad for the memories of another girl who had never had the chance to have such joy in her life. Jacqueline was gone, nothing could ever change that…but maybe, just maybe, he could look forward to Gemini's future and make sure he gave her every chance to be as happy as he would have wanted Jacqueline to be. He had thought he would never love again, but perhaps he was wrong. Perhaps he had been given a second chance to love. Perhaps he should leave the past be, and concentrate on the future.

* *

Marina sat at the edge of one the fish-ponds in the gardens, gazing down into the shallow depths of the pool, watching either the fish or her reflection, he couldn't tell which.

"Marina?"

She looked over on hearing her name, and a little smile crossed her face when she saw him, "Gary."

"There's something I have to tell you."

Marina's spirits fell instantly. There was something about the tone of his voice that meant she knew what he was going to say. He was going to say he didn't love her, that he loved that other girl. She looked sadly into the water. She had expected as much. She hadn't realistically allowed herself to believe that Gary might want to spend time with her when he could spend time with somebody else. 

"I've decided that I love you, and I want to spend my life with you."

Marina was shocked. Had she heard right?

"If that's what you want, of course," he added.

"Yes. I love you. But – but Gary – what about Cassandra? What are you – what are you going to tell her?"

Even in her moment of delight and triumph, Marina felt sorry for her rival. She knew how badly it would have hurt her if _she_ had been rejected. She didn't want anybody else to feel that way on her account. Already she felt guilty.

"I don't know," Gary sighed. "I made a promise to her and I can't keep it. Maybe she'll understand why. Maybe she'll hate me for it. I wouldn't blame her either way."

Marina stood, they clasped each other and they kissed. He held her close and whispered, "All I know is, I won't regret this decision…"

*

*

*

A/N: OK that's all. I hope you enjoyed this story as well as the others. I don't think I will be writing any more. Still, if you have any requests let me know.


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